[LI. Benedictine Edition.]

Of the agreement of the evangelists Matthew and Luke in the generations of the Lord.

1. May He, beloved, fulfil your expectation who has awakened it: for though I feel confident that what I have to say is not my own, but God's, yet with far more reason do I say, what the Apostle in his humility says, We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. I do not doubt accordingly that you remember my promise; in Him I made it through whom I now fulfil it, for both when I made the promise, did I ask of the Lord, and now when I fulfil it, do I receive of Him. Now you will remember, beloved, that it was in the matins of the festival of the Lord's Nativity, that I put off the question which I had proposed for resolution, because many came with us to the celebration of the accustomed solemnities of that day to whom the word of God is usually burdensome; but now I imagine that none have come here, but they who desire to hear, and so I am not speaking to hearts that are deaf, and to minds that will disdain the word, but this your longing expectation is a prayer for me. There is a further consideration; for the day of the public shows has dispersed many from hence, for whose salvation I exhort you to share my great anxiety, and do you with all earnestness of mind, entreat God for those who are not yet intent upon the spectacles of the truth, but are wholly given up to the spectacles of the flesh; for I know and am well assured, that there are now among you those who have this day despised them, and have burst the bonds of their inveterate habits; for men are changed both for the better and the worse. By daily instances of this kind are we alternately made joyful and sad; we joy over the reformed, are sad over the corrupted; and therefore the Lord does not say that he who begins, shall be saved, But he that endures unto the end shall be saved.

2. Now what more marvellous, what more magnificent thing could our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and also the Son of man (for this also He vouchsafed to be), grant to us, than the gathering into His fold not only of the spectators of these foolish shows, but even some of the actors in them; for He has combated unto salvation not only the lovers of the combats of men with beasts, but even the combatants themselves, for He also was made a spectacle Himself. Hear how. He has told us Himself, and foretold it before He was made a spectacle, and in the words of prophecy announced beforehand what was to come to pass, as if it were already done, saying in the Psalms, They pierced My hands and My feet, they told all My bones. Lo! How He was made a spectacle, for His bones to be told! And this spectacle He expresses more plainly, they observed and looked upon Me. He was made a spectacle and an object of derision, made a spectacle by them who were to show Him no favour indeed in that spectacle, but who were to be furious against Him, just as at first He made His martyrs spectacles; as says the Apostle, We are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. Now two sorts of men are spectators of such spectacles; the one, carnal, the other, spiritual men. The carnal look on, as thinking those martyrs who are thrown to the beasts, or beheaded, or burnt in the flames, to be wretched men, and they detest and abhor them; but others look on, like the holy Angels, not regarding the laceration of their bodies, but admiring the unimpaired purity of their faith. A grand spectacle to the eyes of the heart does a whole mind in a mangled body exhibit! When these things are read of in the church, you behold them with pleasure with these eyes of the heart, for if you were to behold nothing, you would hear nothing; so you see you have not neglected the spectacles today, but have made a choice of spectacles. May God then be with you, and give you grace with gentle persuasiveness to report your spectacles to your friends, whom you have been pained to see this day running to the amphitheatre, and unwilling to come to the church; that so they too may begin to contemn those things, by the love of which themselves have become contemptible, and may, with you, love God, of whom none who love Him can ever be ashamed, for that they love Him who cannot be overcome: let them, as you do, love Christ, who by that very thing wherein He seemed to be overcome, overcame the whole world. For He has overcome the whole world as we see, my brethren; He has subjected all powers, He has subjugated kings, not with the pride of soldiery, but by the ignominy of the Cross: not by the fury of the sword, but by hanging on the Wood, by suffering in the body, by working in the Spirit. His body was lifted up on the Cross, and so He subdued souls to the Cross; and now what jewel in their diadem is more precious than the Cross of Christ on the foreheads of kings? In loving Him you will never be ashamed. Whereas from the amphitheatre how many return conquered, because those are conquered, for whom they are so madly interested! still more would they be conquered were they to conquer. For so would they be enslaved to the vain joy, to the exultation of a depraved desire, who are conquered by the very circumstance of running to these shows. For how many, my brethren, do you think have this day been in hesitation whether they would go here or there? And they who in this hesitation, turning their thoughts to Christ, have run to the church, have overcome, not any man, but the devil himself, him that hunts after the souls of the whole world. But they who in that hesitation have chosen rather to run to the amphitheatre, have assuredly been overcome by him whom the others overcame — overcame in Him who says, Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. For the Captain suffered Himself to be tried, only that He might teach His soldiers to fight.

3. That our Lord Jesus Christ might do this He became the Son of man by being born of a woman. But now, would He have been any less a man, if He had not been born of the Virgin Mary one may say. He willed to be a man; well and good; He might have so been, and yet not be born of a woman; for neither did He make the first man whom He made, of a woman. Now see what answer I make to this. You say, Why did He choose to be born of a woman? I answer, Why should He avoid being born of a woman? Granted that I could not show that He chose to be born of a woman; do you show why He need have avoided it. But I have already said at other times, that if He had avoided the womb of a woman, it might have betokened, as it were, that He could have contracted defilement from her; but by how much He was in His own substance more incapable of defilement, by so much less had He cause to fear the woman's womb, as though He could contract defilement from it. But by being born of a woman, He purposed to show to us some high mystery. For of a truth, brethren, we grant too, that if the Lord had willed to become man without being born of a woman, it were easy to His sovereign Majesty. For as He could be born of a woman without a man, so could He also have been born without the woman. But this has He shown us, that mankind of neither sex might despair of its salvation, for the human sexes are male and female. If therefore being a man, which it behooved Him assuredly to be, He had not been born of a woman, women might have despaired of themselves, as mindful of their first sin, because by a woman was the first man deceived, and would have thought that they had no hope at all in Christ. He came therefore as a man to make special choice of that sex, and was born of a woman to console the female sex, as though He would address them and say; That ye may know that no creature of God is bad, but that unregulated pleasure perverts it, when in the beginning I made man, I made them male and female. I do not condemn the creature which I made. See I have been born a Man, and born of a woman; it is not then the creature which I made that I condemn, but the sins which I made not. Let each sex then at once see its honour, and confess its iniquity, and let them both hope for salvation. The poison to deceive man was presented him by woman, through woman let salvation for man's recovery be presented; so let the woman make amends for the sin by which she deceived the man, by giving birth to Christ. For the same reason again, women were the first who announced to the Apostles the Resurrection of God. The woman in Paradise announced death to her husband, and the women in the Church announced salvation to the men; the Apostles were to announce to the nations the Resurrection of Christ, the women announced it to the Apostles. Let no one then reproach Christ with His birth of a woman, by which sex the Deliverer could not be defiled, and to which it was in the purpose of the Creator to do honour.

4. But, say they, how are we to believe that Christ was born of a woman? I would answer, by the Gospel which has been preached and is still preached to all the world. But these men, blind themselves, and aiming to blind others, seeing not what they ought to see, while they try to shake what ought to be believed, endeavour to obtrude a question on a matter which is now believed through all the earth. For they answer and say: Do not think to overwhelm us with the authority of the whole world — let us look to Scripture itself, urge not arguments of mere numbers against us, for the seduced multitude favours you. To this I answer, in the first place, Does the seduced multitude favour me? This multitude was once a scantling. Whence grew this multitude, which in this increase was announced so long before? For this which has been seen to increase, is none other than the same which was seen beforehand. I need not have said, it was a scantling; once it was Abraham only. Consider, brethren; it was Abraham alone throughout all the world at that time; throughout the whole world, among all men, and all nations; Abraham alone to whom it was said, In your seed shall all nations be blessed; and what he alone believed of his own single person, is exhibited as present now to many in the multitude of his seed. Then it was not seen, and was believed; now it is seen, and it is contested; and what was then said to one man, and was by that one believed, is disputed now by some few, when in many it is made good. He who made His disciples fishers of men, inclosed within His nets every kind of authority. If great numbers are to be believed, what more widely diffused over the whole world than the Church? If the rich are to be believed, let them consider how many rich He has taken; if the poor, let them consider the thousands of poor; if nobles, almost all the nobility are within the Church; if kings, let them see all of them subjected to Christ; if the more eloquent, and wise, and learned, let them see how many orators, and scientific men, and philosophers of this world, have been caught by those fishermen, to be drawn from the depth to salvation; let them think of Him who, coming down to heal by the example of His own humility that great evil of man's soul, pride, chose the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and the foolish things of the world to confound the wise (not the really wise, but who seemed so to be), and chose the base things of the world, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are.

5. Whatever you may choose to say, they say, we find that in the place where we read that Christ was born, the Gospels disagree with one another, and two things which disagree cannot both be true; for, says one, when I have proved this disagreement, I may rightly disallow belief in it, or, at least, do you who accept the belief in it, show the agreement. And what disagreement, I ask, will you prove? A plain one, says he, which none can gainsay. With what security, brethren, do you hear all this, because you are believers! Attend, dearly beloved, and see what wholesome advice the Apostle gives, who says, As you have therefore received Christ Jesus our Lord, so walk ye in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith; for with this simple and assured faith ought we to abide steadfastly in Him, that He may Himself open to the faithful what is hidden in Him; for as the same Apostle says, In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; and He does not hide them to refuse them, but to stir up desire for those hidden things. This is the advantage of their secrecy. Honour in Him then what as yet you understand not, and so much the more as the veils which you see are more in number: for the higher in honour any one is, the more veils are suspended in his palace. The veils make that which is kept secret honoured, and to those who honour it, the veils are lifted up; but as for those who mock at the veils, they are driven away from even approaching them. Because then we turn unto Christ, the veil is taken away.

6. They bring forward then their cavillings, and say, You allow Matthew is an Evangelist. We answer: Yes indeed, with a godly confession, and a heart devout, in neither having any doubt at all, we answer plainly, Matthew is an Evangelist. Do you believe him? they say. Who will not answer, I do? How clear an assent does that your godly murmur convey! So, brethren, you believe it in all assurance; you have no cause to blush for it. I am speaking to you, who was once deceived, when as in my early boyhood I chose to bring to the divine Scriptures a subtlety of criticising before the godly temper of one who was seeking truth: by my irregular life I shut the gate of my Lord against myself: when I should have knocked for it to be opened, I went on so as to make it more closely shut, for I dared to search in pride for that which none but the humble can discover. How much more blessed now are you, with what sure confidence do you learn, and in what safety, who are still young ones in the nest of faith, and receive the spiritual food; whereas I, wretch that I was, as thinking myself fit to fly, left the nest, and fell down before I flew: but the Lord of mercy raised me up, that I might not be trodden down to death by passers by, and put me in the nest again; for those same things then troubled me, which now in quiet security I am proposing and explaining to you in the Name of the Lord.

7. As then I had begun to say, thus do they cavil. Matthew, say they, is an Evangelist, and you believe him? Immediately that we acknowledge him to be an Evangelist, we necessarily believe him. Attend then to the generations of Christ, which Matthew has set down. The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the son of Abraham. How the Son of David, and the Son of Abraham? He could not be shown to be so, but by the succession of generations; for certain it is that when the Lord was born of the Virgin Mary, neither Abraham nor David was in this world, and do you say that the same man is both the Son of David, and the Son of Abraham? Let us, as it were, say to Matthew, Prove your word, for I am waiting for the succession of the generations of Christ. Abraham begot Isaac; and Isaac begot Jacob; and Jacob begot Judas and his brethren; and Judas begot Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begot Esrom; and Esrom begot Aram; and Aram begot Aminadab; and Aminadab begot Naasson; and Naasson begot Salmon; and Salmon begot Booz of Rachab; and Booz begot Obed of Ruth; and Obed begot Jesse; and Jesse begot David the king. Now observe how from this point the genealogy is brought down from David to Christ, who is called the Son of Abraham, and the Son of David. And David begot Solomon, of her that had been the wife of Urias; and Solomon begot Roboam; and Roboam begot Abia; and Abia begot Asa; and Asa begot Josaphat; and Josaphat begot Joram; and Joram begot Ozias; and Ozias begot Joatham; and Joatham begot Achaz; and Achaz begot Ezekias; and Ezekias begot Manasses; and Manasses begot Amon; and Amon begot Josias; and Josias begot Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon; and after the carrying away into Babylon, Jechonias begot Salathiel; and Salathiel begot Zorobabel; and Zorobabel begot Abiud; and Abiud begot Eliakim; and Eliakim begot Azor; and Azor begot Sadoc; and Sadoc begot Achim; and Achim begot Eliud; and Eliud begot Eleazar; and Eleazar begot Matthan; and Matthan begot Jacob; and Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. Thus then by the order and succession of fathers and forefathers, Christ is found to be the Son of David, and the Son of Abraham.

8. Now upon this thus faithfully narrated, the first cavil they bring is, that the same Matthew goes on to say, All the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations. Then in order to tell us how Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, he went on and said, Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise; for by the line of the generations he had showed why Christ is called the Son of David, and the Son of Abraham. But now it needed to be shown how He was born and appeared among men: and so there follows immediately that narrative, by means of which we believe that our Lord Jesus Christ was not only born of the everlasting God, coeternal with Him who begot Him before all times, before all creation, by whom all things were made; but was also now born from the Holy Ghost, of the Virgin Mary, which we confess equally with the other; for you remember and know (for I am speaking to Catholics, to my brethren), that this is our faith, that this we profess and confess; for this faith thousands of martyrs have been slain in all the world.

9. This also which follows they like to laugh at, whose wish it is to destroy the authority of the Evangelical books, that they may show as it were that we have without any good reason believed what is said, When as His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with Child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily; for because he knew that she was not with child by him, he thought that she was so to say necessarily an adulteress. Being a just man, as the Scripture says, and not willing to make her a public example, (that is, to divulge the matter, for so it is in many copies), he was minded to put her away privily. The husband indeed was in trouble, but as being a just man he deals not severely; for so great justice is ascribed to this man, as that he neither wished to keep an adulterous wife, nor could bring himself to punish and expose her. He was minded to put her away privily, because he was not only unwilling to punish, but even to betray her; and mark his genuine justice; for he did not wish to spare her, because he had a desire to keep her; for many spare their adulterous wives through a carnal love, choosing to keep them even though adulterous, that they may enjoy them through a carnal desire. But this just man has no wish to keep her, and so does not love in any carnal sort; and yet he does not wish to punish her; and so in his mercy he spares her. How truly just a man is this! He would neither keep an adulteress, lest he should seem to spare her because of an impure affection, and yet he would not punish or betray her. Deservedly indeed was he chosen for the witness of his wife's virginity: and so he who was in trouble through human infirmity, was assured by Divine authority.

10. For the Evangelist goes on to say, While he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in sleep, saying, Joseph, fear not to take unto you Mary your wife; for That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus. Why Jesus? for He shall save His people from their sins. It is well known then, that Jesus in the Hebrew tongue is in Latin interpreted Saviour, which we see from this very explanation of the name; for as if it had been asked, Why Jesus? he subjoined immediately as explaining the reason of the word, for He shall save His people from their sins. This then we religiously believe, this most firmly hold fast, that Christ was born by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary.

11. What then do our adversaries say? If, says one, I shall discover a lie, surely you will not then believe it all; and such I have discovered. Let us see: I will reckon up the generations; for by their slanderous cavillings they invite and bring us to this. Yes, if we live religiously, if we believe Christ, if we do not desire to fly out of the nest before the time, they only bring us to this — to the knowledge of mysteries. Mark then, holy brethren, the usefulness of heretics; their usefulness, that is, in respect of the designs of God, who makes a good use even of those that are bad; whereas, as regards themselves, the fruit of their own designs is rendered to them, and not that good which God brings out of them. Just as in the case of Judas; what great good did he! By the Lord's Passion all nations are saved; but that the Lord might suffer, Judas betrayed Him. God then both delivers the nations by the Passion of His Son, and punishes Judas for his own wickedness. For the mysteries which lie hidden in Scripture, no one who is content with the simplicity of the faith would curiously sift them, and therefore as no one would sift them, no one would discover them but for cavillers who force us. For when heretics cavil, the little ones are disturbed; when disturbed, they make search, and their search is, so to say, a beating of the head at the mother's breasts, that they may yield as much milk as is sufficient for these little ones. They search then, because they are troubled; but they who know and have learned these things, because they have investigated them, and God has opened to their knocking, they in their turn open to those who are in trouble. And so it happens that heretics serve usefully for the discovery of the truth, while they cavil to seduce men into error. For with less carefulness would truth be sought out, if it had not lying adversaries; For there must be also heresies among you, and as though we should enquire the cause, he immediately subjoined, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

12. What then is it that they say? See; Matthew enumerates the generations, and says, that from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations. Now three times fourteen make forty-two; yet they number them, and find them forty-one generations, and immediately they bring up their cavilling and their insulting mockery, and say, What means it, when in the Gospel it is said that there are three times fourteen generations, yet when they are numbered all together, they are found to be not forty-two, but forty-one? Doubtless there is a great mystery here: and glad are we, and we give thanks unto the Lord, that by the occasion of cavillers we have discovered something which gives us in the discovery the more pleasure, in proportion to its obscurity when it was the object of search; for, as I have said before, we are exhibiting a spectacle to your minds. From Abraham then to David are fourteen generations: after that, the enumeration begins with Solomon, for David begot Solomon; the enumeration, I say, begins with Solomon, and reaches to Jechonias, during whose life the carrying away into Babylon took place; and so are there other fourteen generations, by reckoning in Solomon at the head of the second division, and Jechonias also, with whom that enumeration closes to fill up the number fourteen; and the third division begins with this same Jechonias.

13. Give attention, holy brethren, to this circumstance, at once mysterious and pleasant; for I confess to you the feeling of my own heart, whereby I believe that when I have brought it forth, and you have got taste of it, you will give the same report of it. Attend then. In the third division, beginning from this Jechonias unto the Lord Jesus Christ, are found fourteen generations; for this Jechonias is reckoned twice, as the last of the former, and the first of the following division. But why is Jechonias, one may say, reckoned twice? Nothing took place of old among the people of Israel, which was not a mysterious figure of things to come: and indeed it is not without good reason that Jechonias is reckoned twice, because if there be a boundary between two fields, be it a stone, or any dividing wall, both he who is on the one side measures up to that same wall, and he who is on the other takes the beginning of his measurement again from the same. But why this was not done in the first connecting link of the divisions, when we number from Abraham to David fourteen generations, and begin to reckon the fourteen others, not from David over again, but from Solomon, a reason must be given which contains an important mystery. Attend then. The carrying away into Babylon took place when Jechonias was appointed king in the room of his deceased father. The kingdom was taken from him, and another appointed in his room; still the carrying away unto the Gentiles took place during the lifetime of Jechonias, for no fault of Jechonias is mentioned for which he was deprived of the kingdom; but the sins rather of those who succeeded him are marked out. So then there follows the Captivity and the passing away into Babylon; and the wicked do not go alone, but the saints also go with them: for in that Captivity were the prophets Ezekiel and Daniel, and the Three Children who were cast into the flames, and so made famous. They all went according to the prophecy of the prophet Jeremiah.

14. Remember then, that Jechonias, rejected without any fault of his, ceased to reign, and passed over unto the Gentiles, when the carrying away unto Babylon took place. Now observe the figure hereby manifested beforehand, of things to come in the Lord Jesus Christ. For the Jews would not that our Lord Jesus Christ should reign over them, yet found they no fault in Him. He was rejected in His own person, and in that of His servants also, and so they passed over unto the Gentiles as into Babylon in a figure. For this also did Jeremiah prophesy, that the Lord commanded them to go into Babylon: and whatever other prophets told the people not to go into Babylon, them he reproved as false prophets. Let those who read the Scriptures, remember this as we do; and let those who do not, give us credit. Jeremiah then on the part of God threatened those who would not go into Babylon, whereas to them who should go he promised rest there, and a sort of happiness in the cultivation of their vines, and planting of their gardens, and the abundance of their fruits. How then does the people of Israel, not now in figure but in verity, pass over unto Babylon? Whence came the Apostles? Were they not of the nation of the Jews? Whence came Paul himself? For he says, I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. Many of the Jews then believed in the Lord; from them were the Apostles chosen; of them were the more than five hundred brethren, to whom it was vouchsafed to see the Lord after His resurrection; of them were the hundred and twenty in the house, when the Holy Ghost came down. But what says the Apostle in the Acts of the Apostles, when the Jews refused the word of truth? We were sent unto you, but seeing you have rejected the word of God, lo! We turn unto the Gentiles. The true passing over then into Babylon, which was then prefigured in the time of Jeremiah, took place in the spiritual dispensation of the time of the Lord's Incarnation. But what says Jeremiah of these Babylonians, to those who were passing over to them? For in their peace shall be your peace. When Israel then passed over also into Babylon by Christ and the Apostles, that is, when the Gospel came unto the Gentiles, what says the Apostle, as though by the mouth of Jeremiah of old? I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men. For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For they were not yet Christian kings, yet he prayed for them. Israel then praying in Babylon has been heard; the prayers of the Church have been heard, and the kings have become Christian, and you see now fulfilled what was then spoken in figure; In their peace shall be your peace, for they have received the peace of Christ, and have left off to persecute Christians, that now in the secure quiet of peace, the Churches might be built up, and peoples planted in the garden of God, and that all nations might bring forth fruit in faith, and hope, and love, which is in Christ.

15. The carrying away into Babylon took place of old by Jechonias, who was not permitted to reign in the nation of the Jews, as a type of Christ, whom the Jews would not have reign over them. Israel passed over unto the Gentiles, that is, the preachers of the Gospel passed over unto the people of the Gentiles. What marvel then, that Jechonias is reckoned twice? For if he were a figure of Christ passing over from the Jews unto the Gentiles, consider only what Christ is between the Jews and Gentiles. Is He not that Cornerstone? In a corner-stone you see the end of one wall, and the beginning of another; up to that stone you measure one wall, and another from it; therefore the corner-stone which connects both walls is reckoned twice. Jechonias then as prefiguring the Lord was, as it were, a type of the corner-stone; and as Jechonias was not permitted to reign over the Jews, but they went unto Babylon, so Christ, the stone which the builders rejected, is made the head of the corner, that the Gospel might reach unto the Gentiles. Hesitate not then to reckon the head of the corner twice, and you have at once the number written: and so there are fourteen in each of the three divisions, yet altogether the generations are not forty-two, but forty-one; for as when the order of the stones runs in a straight line, they are all reckoned but once, but when there is a deviation from the straight line to make an angle, that stone at which the deviation begins must be reckoned twice, because it belongs at once to that line which is finished at it, and to that other line which begins from it; so as long as the order of the generations continued in the Jewish people, it made no angle in the regular division of fourteen; but when the line was turned that the people might pass over into Babylon, a sort of angle as it were was made at Jechonias, so that it was necessary to reckon him twice, as the type of that adorable Cornerstone.

16. They have another cavil. The generations of Christ, say they, are numbered through Joseph, and not through Mary. Attend awhile, holy brethren. It ought not to be, they say, through Joseph. And why not? Was not Joseph the husband of Mary? No, they say. Who says so? For the Scripture says by the authority of the Angel that he was her husband. Fear not to take unto you Mary your wife, for That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. Again, he was commanded to name the Child, though He was not born of his seed; She shall bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus. Now the Scripture is intent on showing, that He was not born of Joseph's seed, when he is told in his trouble as to her being with child, He is of the Holy Ghost; and yet his paternal authority is not taken from him, forasmuch as he is commanded to name the Child; and again the Virgin Mary herself, who was well aware that it was not by him that she conceived Christ, yet calls him the father of Christ.

17. Consider when this was. When the Lord Jesus, as to His Human Nature, was twelve years old (for as to His Divine Nature He is before all times, and without time), He tarried behind them in the temple, and disputed with the elders, and they wondered at His doctrine; and His parents who were returning from Jerusalem sought Him among their company, among those, that is, who were journeying with them, and when they found Him not, they returned in trouble to Jerusalem, and found Him disputing in the temple with the elders, when He was, as I said, twelve years old. But what wonder? The Word of God is never silent, though it is not always heard. He is found then in the temple, and His mother says to Him, Why have You thus dealt with us? Your father and I have sought You sorrowing; and He said, Did you not know that I must be about My Father's service? This He said for that the Son of God was in the temple of God, for that temple was not Joseph's, but God's. See, says some one, He did not allow that He was the Son of Joseph. Wait, brethren, with a little patience, because of the press of time, that it may be long enough for what I have to say. When Mary had said, Your father and I have sought You sorrowing, He answered, Did you not know that I must be about My Father's service? for He would not be their Son in such a sense, as not to be understood to be also the Son of God. For the Son of God He was — ever the Son of God— Creator even of themselves who spoke to Him; but the Son of Man in time; born of a Virgin without the operation of her husband, yet the Son of both parents. Whence prove we this? Already have we proved it by the words of Mary, Your father and I have sought You sorrowing.

18. Now in the first place for the instruction of the women, our sisters, such saintly modesty of the Virgin Mary must not be passed over, brethren. She had given birth to Christ — the Angel had come to her, and said, Behold, you shall conceive in your womb, and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest. She had been thought worthy to give birth to the Son of the Highest, yet was she most humble; nor did she put herself before her husband, even in the order of naming him, so as to say, I and Your father, but she says, Your father and I. She regarded not the high honour of her womb, but the order of wedlock did she regard, for Christ the humble would not have taught His mother to be proud. Your father and I have sought You sorrowing. Your father and I, she says, for the husband is the head of the woman. How much less then ought other women to be proud! For Mary herself also is called a woman, not from the loss of virginity, but by a form of expression peculiar to her country; for of the Lord Jesus the Apostle also said, made of a woman, yet there is no interruption hence to the order and connection of our Creed wherein we confess that He was born of the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary. For as a virgin she conceived Him, as a virgin brought Him forth, and a virgin she continued; but all females they called women, by a peculiarity of the Hebrew tongue. Hear a most plain example of this. The first woman whom God made, having taken her out of the side of a man, was called a woman before she knew her husband, which we are told was not till after they went out of Paradise, for the Scripture says, He made her a woman.

19. The answer then of the Lord Jesus Christ, I must be about My Father's service, does not in such sense declare God to be His Father, as to deny that Joseph was His father also; And whence prove we this? By the Scripture, which says on this wise, And He said to them, Did you not know that I must be about My Father's service; but they understood not what He spoke to them: and when He went down with them, He came to Nazareth, and was subject to them. It did not say, He was subject to His mother, or was subject to her, but He was subject to them. To whom was He subject? Was it not to His parents? It was to both His parents that He was subject, by the same condescension by which He was the Son of Man. A little way back women received their precepts. Now let children receive theirs — to obey their parents, and to be subject to them. The world was subject unto Christ, and Christ was subject to His parents.

20. You see then, brethren, that He did not say, I must needs be about My Father's service, in any such sense as that we should understand Him thereby to have said, You are not My parents. They were His parents in time, God was His Father eternally. They were the parents of the Son of Man— He, the Father of His Word, and Wisdom, and Power, by whom He made all things. But if all things were made by that Wisdom, which reaches from one end to another mightily, and sweetly orders all things, then were they also made by the Son of God to whom He Himself as Son of Man was afterwards to be subject; and the Apostle says that He is the Son of David, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. But yet the Lord Himself proposes a question to the Jews, which the Apostle solves in these very words; for when he said, who was made of the seed of David, he added, according to the flesh, that it might be understood that He is not the Son of David according to His Divinity, but that the Son of God is David's Lord; for thus in another place, when He is setting forth the privileges of the Jewish people, the Apostle says, Whose are the fathers, of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, Who is over all, God blessed forever. As, according to the flesh, He is David's Son; but as being God over all, blessed for ever, He is David's Lord. The Lord then says to the Jews, Whose Son do you say that Christ is? They answered, The Son of David. For this they knew, as they had learned it easily from the preaching of the Prophets; and in truth, He was of the seed of David, but according to the flesh, by the Virgin Mary, who was espoused to Joseph. When they answered then that Christ was David's Son, Jesus said to them, How then does David in spirit call Him Lord, saying, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on My right hand, till I put Your enemies under Your feet. If David then in spirit call Him Lord, how is He his Son? And the Jews could not answer Him. So we have it in the Gospel. He did not deny that He was David's Son, so that they could not understand that He was also David's Lord. For they acknowledged in Christ that which He became in time, but they did not understand in Him what He was in all eternity. Wherefore wishing to teach them His Divinity, He proposed a question touching His Humanity; as though He would say, You know that Christ is David's Son, answer Me, how He is also David's Lord? And that they might not say, He is not David's Lord, He introduced the testimony of David himself. And what does he say? He says indeed the truth. For you find God in the Psalms saying to David, Of the fruit of your body will I set upon your seat. Here then He is the Son of David. But how is He the Lord of David, who is David's Son? The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on My right hand. Can you wonder that David's Son is his Lord, when you see that Mary was the mother of her Lord? He is David's Lord then as being God. David's Lord, as being Lord of all; and David's Son, as being the Son of Man. At once Lord and Son. David's Lord, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; and David's Son, in that He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant.

21. Joseph then was not the less His father, because he knew not the mother of our Lord, as though concupiscence and not conjugal affection constitutes the marriage bond. Attend, holy brethren; Christ's Apostle was some time after this to say in the Church, It remains that they that have wives be as though they had none. And we know many of our brethren bringing forth fruit through grace, who for the Name of Christ practise an entire restraint by mutual consent, who yet suffer no restraint of true conjugal affection. Yea, the more the former is repressed, the more is the other strengthened and confirmed. Are they then not married people who thus live, not requiring from each other any carnal gratification, or exacting the satisfaction of any bodily desire? And yet the wife is subject to the husband, because it is fitting that she should be, and so much the more in subjection is she, in proportion to her greater chastity; and the husband for his part loves his wife truly, as it is written, In honour and sanctification, as a coheir of grace: as Christ, says the Apostle, loved the Church. If then this be a union, and a marriage; if it be not the less a marriage because nothing of that kind passes between them, which even with unmarried persons may take place, but then unlawfully; (O that all could live so, but many have not the power!) let them at least not separate those who have the power, and deny that the man is a husband or the woman a wife, because there is no fleshly intercourse, but only the union of hearts between them.

22. Hence, my brethren, understand the sense of Scripture concerning those our ancient fathers, whose sole design in their marriage was to have children by their wives. For those even who, according to the custom of their time and nation, had a plurality of wives, lived in such chastity with them, as not to approach their bed, but for the cause I have mentioned, thus treating them indeed with honour. But he who exceeds the limits which this rule prescribes for the fulfilment of this end of marriage, acts contrary to the very contract by which he took his wife. The contract is read, read in the presence of all the attesting witnesses; and an express clause is there that they marry for the procreation of children; and this is called the marriage contract. If it was not for this that wives were given and taken to wife, what father could without blushing give up his daughter to the lust of any man? But now, that the parents may not blush, and that they may give their daughters in honourable marriage, not to shame, the contract is read out. And what is read from it?— the clause, for the sake of the procreation of children. And when this is heard, the brow of the parent is cleared up and calmed. Let us consider again the feelings of the husband who takes his wife. The husband himself would blush to receive her with any other view, if the father would blush with any other view to give her. Nevertheless, if they cannot contain (as I have said on other occasions), let them require what is due, and let them not go to any others than those from whom it is due. Let both the woman and the man seek relief for their infirmity in themselves. Let not the husband go to any other woman, nor the woman to any other man, for from this adultery gets its name, as though it were a going to another. And if they exceed the bounds of the marriage contract, let them not at least exceed those of conjugal fidelity. Is it not a sin in married persons to exact from one another more than this design of the procreation of children renders necessary? It is doubtless a sin, though a venial one. The Apostle says, But I speak this of allowance, when he was treating the matter thus. Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. What does this mean? That you do not impose upon yourselves anything beyond your strength, that you do not by your mutual continence fall into adultery. That Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. And that he might not seem to enjoin what he only allowed (for it is one thing to give precepts to strength of virtue, and another to make allowance to infirmity), he immediately subjoined; But this I speak of allowance, not of commandment. For I would that all men were even as I myself. As though he would say, I do not command you to do this; but I pardon you if you do.

23. So then, my brethren, give heed. Those famous men who marry wives only for the procreation of children, such as we read the Patriarchs to have been, and know it, by many proofs, by the clear and unequivocal testimony of the sacred books; whoever, I say, they are who marry wives for this purpose only, if the means could be given them of having children without intercourse with their wives, would they not with joy unspeakable embrace so great a blessing? Would they not with great delight accept it? For there are two carnal operations by which mankind is preserved, to both of which the wise and holy descend as matter of duty, but the unwise rush headlong into them through lust; and these are very different things. Now what are these two things by which mankind is preserved? The first which is confined to ourselves and relates to taking nourishment (which cannot of course be taken without some gratification of the flesh), is eating and drinking; if you do not this you will die. By this one support then of eating and drinking does the race of man subsist, by a law of its nature. But by this men are only supported as far as themselves are concerned; for they do not provide for any succession by eating and drinking, but by marrying wives. For so is the race of man preserved; first, by the means of life; but because whatever care they exercise they cannot of course live for ever, there is a second provision made, that those who are newly born may replace those who die. For the race of man is, as it is written, like the leaves on a tree, or an olive, that is, or a laurel, or some tree of this sort, which is never without foliage, yet whose leaves are not always the same. For, as it is written, it shoots forth some, and casts others, because those which sprout afresh replace the others as they fall, for the tree is ever casting its leaves, yet is ever clothed with leaves. So also the race of man feels not the loss of those who die day by day, because of the supply of those who are newly born; and thus the whole race of mankind is according to its own laws sustained, and as leaves are ever seen on the trees, so is the earth seen to be full of men. Whereas if they were only to die, and no fresh ones be born, the earth would be stripped of all its inhabitants, as certain trees are of all their leaves.

24. Seeing then that the human race subsists in such sort, as that those two supports, of which enough has now been said, are necessary to it, the wise, and understanding, and the faithful man descends to both as matter of duty, and does not fall into them through lust. But how many are there who rush greedily to their eating and drinking, and make their whole life to consist in them, as if they were the very reason for living. For whereas men really eat to live, they think that they live to eat. These will every wise man condemn, and holy Scripture especially, all gluttons, drunkards, gormandizers, whose god is their belly. Nothing but the lust of the flesh, and not the need of refreshment, carries them to the table. These then fall upon their meat and drink. But they who descend to them from the duty of maintaining life, do not live to eat, but eat to live. Accordingly, if the offer were made to these wise and temperate persons that they should live without food or drink, with what great joy would they embrace the boon! That now they might not even be forced to descend to that into which it had never been their custom to fall, but that they might be lifted up always in the Lord, and no necessity of repairing the wastings of their body might make them lay aside their fixed attention towards Him. How think ye that the holy Elias received the cruse of water, and the cake of bread, to satisfy him for forty days? With great joy no doubt, because he eat and drank to live, and not to serve his lust. But try to bring this about, if you could, for a man who, like the beast in his stall, places his whole blessedness and happiness in the table. He would hate your boon, and thrust it from him, and look upon it as a punishment. And so in that other duty of marriage, sensual men seek for wives only to satisfy their sensuality, and therefore at length are scarce contented even with their wives. And oh! I would that if they cannot or will not cure their sensuality, they would not suffer it to go beyond that limit which conjugal duty prescribes, I mean even that which is granted to infirmity. Nevertheless, if you were to say to such a man, why do you marry? he would answer perhaps for very shame, for the sake of children. But if any one in whom he could have unhesitating credit were to say to him, God is able to give, and yea, and will give you children without your having any intercourse with your wife; he would assuredly be driven to confess that it was not for the sake of children that he was seeking for a wife. Let him then acknowledge his infirmity, and so receive that which he pretended to receive only as matter of duty.

25. It was thus those holy men of former times, those men of God sought and wished for children. For this one end — the procreation of children, was their intercourse and union with their wives. It is for this reason that they were allowed to have a plurality of wives. For if immoderateness in these desires could be well-pleasing to God, it would have been as much allowed at that time for one woman to have many husbands, as one husband many wives. Why then had all chaste women no more than one husband, but one man had many wives, except that for one man to have many wives is a means to the multiplication of a family, whereas a woman would not give birth to more children, how many soever more husbands she might have. Wherefore, brethren, if our fathers' union and intercourse with their wives, was for no other end but the procreation of children, it had been great matter of joy to them, if they could have had children without that intercourse, since for the sake of having them they descended to that intercourse only through duty, and did not rush into it through lust. So then was Joseph not a father because he had gotten a son without any lust of the flesh? God forbid that Christian chastity should entertain a thought, which even Jewish chastity entertained not! Love your wives then, but love them chastely. In your intercourse with them keep yourselves within the bounds necessary for the procreation of children. And inasmuch as you cannot otherwise have them, descend to it with regret. For this necessity is the punishment of that Adam from whom we are sprung. Let us not make a pride of our punishment. It is his punishment who because he was made mortal by sin, was condemned to bring forth only a mortal posterity. This punishment God has not withdrawn, that man might remember from what state he is called away, and to what state he is called, and might seek for that union, in which there can be no corruption.

26. Among that people then, because it was necessary that there should be an abundant increase until Christ came, by the multiplication of that people in whom were to be prefigured all that was to be prefigured as instruction for the Church, it was a duty to marry wives, by means of whom that people in whom the Church should be foreshown might increase. But when the King of all nations Himself was born, then began the honour of virginity with the mother of the Lord, who had the privilege of bearing a Son without any loss of her virgin purity. As that then was a true marriage, and a marriage free from all corruption, so why should not the husband chastely receive what his wife had chastely brought forth? For as she was a wife in chastity, so was he in chastity a husband; and as she was in chastity a mother, so was he in chastity a father. Whoever then says that he ought not to be called father, because he did not beget his Son in the usual way, looks rather to the satisfaction of passion in the procreation of children, and not the natural feeling of affection. What others desire to fulfil in the flesh, he in a more excellent way fulfilled in the spirit. For thus they who adopt children, beget them by the heart in greater chastity, whom they cannot by the flesh beget. Consider, brethren, the laws of adoption; how a man comes to be the son of another, of whom he was not born, so that the choice of the person who adopts has more right in him than the nature of him who begets him has. Not only then must Joseph be a father, but in a most excellent manner a father. For men beget children of women also who are not their wives, and they are called natural children, and the children of the lawful marriage are placed above them. Now as to the manner of their birth, they are born alike; why then are the latter set above the other, but because the love of a wife, of whom children are born, is the more pure. The union of the sexes is not regarded in this case, for this is the same in both women. Where has the wife the pre-eminence but in her fidelity, her wedded love, her more true and pure affection? If then a man could have children by his wife without this intercourse, should he not have so much the more joy thereby, in proportion to the greater chastity of her whom he loves the most?

27. See too by this how it may happen, that one man may have not two sons only, but two fathers also. For by the mention of adoption, it may occur to your thoughts that so it may be. For it is said; A man can have two sons, but two fathers he cannot have. But the truth is, it is found that he can have two fathers also, if one have begotten him of his body, and another adopted him in love. If one man then can have two fathers, Joseph could have two fathers also; might be begotten by one, and adopted by another. And if this be so, what do their cavillings mean, who insist that Matthew has followed one set of generations, and Luke another? And in fact we find that so it is, for Matthew has given Jacob as the father of Joseph, and Luke Heli. Now it is true it might seem, as if one and the same man, whose son Joseph was, had two names. But inasmuch as the grandfathers, and all the other progenitors which they enumerate, are different, and in the very number of the generations, the one has more, and the other fewer, Joseph is plainly shown hereby to have had two fathers. Now having disposed of the cavil of this question, forasmuch as clear reason has shown that it may happen that he who has begotten a child may be one father, and he who has adopted him another: supposing two fathers, it is nothing strange if the grandfathers and the great grandfathers, and the rest in the line upwards which are enumerated, should be different as coming from different fathers.

28. And let not the law of adoption seem to you to be foreign to our Scriptures, and that, as if it were recognised only in the practice of human laws, it cannot fall in with the authority of the divine books. For it is a thing established of old time, and frequently heard of in the Ecclesiastical books — that not only the natural way of birth, but the free choice of the will also, should give birth to a child. For women, if they had no children of their own, used to adopt children born of their husbands by their hand-maids, and even oblige their husbands to give them children in this way; as Sarah, Rachel, and Leah. And in doing this the husbands did not commit adultery, in that they obeyed their wives in that matter which had regard to conjugal duty, according to what the Apostle says: The wife has not power of her own body, but the husband; and likewise also the husband has not power of his own body, but the wife. Moses too, who was born of a Hebrew mother and was exposed, was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter. There were not then indeed the same forms of law as now, but the choice of the will was taken for the rule of law, as the Apostle says also in another place, The Gentiles which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law. But if it is permitted to women to make those their children to whom they have not given birth, why should it not be allowed men to do so too with those whom they have not begotten of their body, but of the love of adoption. For we read that the patriarch Jacob even, the father of so many children, made his grandchildren, the sons of Joseph, his own children, in these words: These too shall be mine, and they shall receive the land with their brethren, and those which you beget after them shall be yours. But it will be said, perhaps, that this word adoption is not found in the Holy Scriptures. As though it were of any importance by what name it is called, when the thing itself is there — for a woman to have a child to whom she has not given birth, or a man a child whom he has not begotten. And he may, without any opposition from me, refuse to call Joseph adopted, provided he grant that he may have been the son of a man of whose body he was not born. Yet the Apostle Paul does continually use this very word adoption, and that to express a great mystery. For though Scripture testifies that our Lord Jesus Christ is the only Son of God, it says, that the brethren and coheirs whom He has vouchsafed to have, are made so by a kind of adoption through Divine grace. When, says he, the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And in another place: We groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. And again, when he was speaking of the Jews, I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh; who are Israelites, to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory, and the testaments, and the giving of the law; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, Who is over all, God blessed forever. Where he shows, that the word adoption, or at least the thing which it signifies, was of ancient use among the Jews, just as was the Testament and the giving of the Law, which he mentions together with it.

29. Added to this; there is another way peculiar to the Jews, in which a man might be the son of another of whom he was not born according to the flesh. For kinsmen used to marry the wives of their next of kin, who died without children, to raise up seed to him that was deceased. So then he who was thus born was both his son of whom he was born, and his in whose line of succession he was born. All this has been said, lest any one, thinking it impossible for two fathers to be mentioned properly for one man, should imagine that either of the Evangelists who have narrated the generations of the Lord are to be, by an impious calumny, charged so to say with a lie; especially when we may see that we are warned against this by their very words. For Matthew, who is understood to make mention of that father of whom Joseph was born, enumerates the generations thus: This one begot the other, so as to come to what he says at the end, Jacob begot Joseph. But Luke — because he cannot properly be said to be begotten who is made a child either by adoption, or who is born in the succession of the deceased, of her who was his wife — did not say, Heli begot Joseph, or Joseph whom Heli begot, but Who was the son of Heli, whether by adoption, or as being born of the next of kin in the succession of one deceased.

30. Enough has now been said to show that the question, why the generations are reckoned through Joseph and not through Mary, ought not to perplex us; for as she was a mother without carnal desire, so was he a father without any carnal intercourse. Let then the generations ascend and descend through him. And let us not exclude him from being a father, because he had none of this carnal desire. Let his greater purity only confirm rather his relationship of father, lest the holy Mary herself reproach us. For she would not put her own name before her husband; but said, Your father and I have sought You sorrowing. Let not then these perverse murmurers do that which the chaste spouse of Joseph did not. Let us reckon then through Joseph, because as he is in chastity a husband, so is he in chastity a father. And let us put the man before the woman, according to the order of nature and the law of God. For if we should cast him aside and leave her, he would say, and say with reason, Why have you excluded me? Why do not the generations ascend and descend through me? Shall we say to him, Because you did not beget Him by the operation of your flesh? Surely he will answer, And is it by the operation of the flesh that the Virgin bare Him? What the Holy Spirit wrought, He wrought for both. Being a just man, says the Gospel. The husband then was just and the woman just. The Holy Spirit reposing in the justice of them both, gave to both a Son. In that sex which is by nature fitted to give birth, He wrought that birth which was for the husband also. And therefore does the Angel bid them both give the Child a name, and hereby is the authority of both parents established. For when Zacharias was yet dumb, the mother gave a name to her newborn son. And when they who were present made signs to his father what he would have him called, he took a writing-table and wrote the name which she had already pronounced. So to Mary too the Angel says, Behold, you shall conceive a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. And to Joseph also he says, Joseph, you son of David, fear not to take unto you Mary your wife; for That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. Again it is said, And she brought forth a Son to him, by which he is established to be a father, not in the flesh indeed, but in love. Let us then acknowledge him to be a father, as in truth he is. For most advisedly and most wisely do the Evangelists reckon through him, whether Matthew in descending from Abraham down to Christ, or Luke in ascending from Christ through Abraham up to God. The one reckons in a descending, the other in an ascending order; but both through Joseph. And why? Because he is the father. How the father? Because he is the more undeniably a father in proportion as he is more chastely so. He was thought, it is true, to be the father of our Lord Jesus Christ in another way: that is, as other parents are according to a fleshly birth, and not through the fruitfulness of a wholly spiritual love. For Luke said, Who was supposed to be the father of Jesus. Why supposed? Because men's thoughts and suppositions were directed to what is usually the case with men. The Lord then was not of the seed of Joseph, though He was supposed to be; yet nevertheless the Son of the Virgin Mary, who is also the Son of God, was born to Joseph, the fruit of his piety and love.

31. But why does St Matthew reckon in a descending, and Luke in an ascending order? I pray you give attentive ear to what the Lord may help me to say on this matter; with your minds now at ease, and disembarrassed from all the perplexity of these cavillings. Matthew descends through his generations, to signify our Lord Jesus Christ descending to bear our sins, that in the seed of Abraham all nations might be blessed. Wherefore, he does not begin with Adam, for from him is the whole race of mankind. Nor with Noe, because from his family again, after the flood, descended the whole human race. Nor could the man Christ Jesus, as descended from Adam, from whom all men are descended, bear upon the fulfilment of prophecy; nor, again, as descended from Noe, from whom also all men are descended; but only as descended from Abraham, who at that time was chosen, that all nations should be blessed in his seed, when the earth was now full of nations. But Luke reckons in an ascending order, and does not begin to enumerate the generations from the beginning of the account of our Lord's birth, but from that place, where he relates His Baptism by John. Now, as in the incarnation of the Lord, the sins of the human race are taken upon Him to be borne, so in the consecration of His Baptism are they taken on Him to be expiated. Accordingly, St. Matthew, as representing His descent to bear our sins, enumerates the generations in a descending order; but the other, as representing the expiation of sins, not His own, of course, but our sins, enumerates them in an ascending order. Again, St. Matthew descends through Solomon, by whose mother David sinned; St. Luke ascends through Nathan another son of the same David, through whom he was purged from his sin. For we read, that Nathan was sent to him to reprove him, and that he might through repentance be healed. Both Evangelists meet together in David; the one in descending, the other in ascending; and from David to Abraham, or from Abraham to David, there is no difference in any one generation. And so Christ, both the Son of David and the Son of Abraham, comes up to God. For to God must we be brought back, when renewed in Baptism, from the abolition of sins.

32. Now, in the generations which Matthew enumerates, the predominant number is forty. For it is a custom of the Holy Scriptures, not to reckon what is over and above certain round numbers. For thus it is said to be four hundred years, after which the people of Israel went out of Egypt, whereas it is four hundred and thirty. And so here the one generation, which exceeds the fortieth, does not take away the predominance of that number. Now this number signifies the life wherein we labour in this world, as long as we are absent from the Lord, during which the temporal dispensation of the preaching of the truth is necessary. For the number ten, by which the perfection of blessedness is signified, multiplied four times, because of the fourfold divisions of the seasons, and the fourfold divisions of the world, will make the number forty. Wherefore Moses and Elias, and the Mediator Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ, fasted forty days, because in the time of this life, continence from the enticements of the body is necessary. Forty years also did the people wander in the wilderness. Forty days the waters of the flood lasted. Forty days after His resurrection did the Lord converse with the disciples, persuading them of the reality of His risen body, whereby He showed that in this life, wherein we are absent from the Lord (which the number forty, as has been already said, mystically figures), we have need to celebrate the memory of the Lord's Body, which we do in the Church, till He come. Forasmuch, then as our Lord descended to this life, and the Word was made flesh, that He might be delivered for our sins, and rise again for our justification, Matthew followed the number forty; so that the one generation which there exceeds that number, either does not hinder its predominance — just as those thirty years do not hinder the perfect number of four hundred — or that it even has this further meaning, that the Lord Himself, by the addition of whom the forty-one is made up, so descended to this life to bear our sins, as yet, by a peculiar and special excellency, whereby He is in such sense man, as to be also God, to be found to be excepted from this life. For of Him only is that said, which never has been or shall be able to be said of any holy man, however perfected in wisdom and righteousness, The Word was made Flesh.

33. But Luke, who ascends up through the generations from the baptism of the Lord, makes up the number seventy-seven, beginning to ascend from our Lord Jesus Christ Himself through Joseph, and coming through Adam up to God. And that is, because by this number is signified the abolition of all sins, which takes place in Baptism. Not that the Lord Himself had anything to be forgiven Him in baptism, but that by His humility He set forth its usefulness to us. And though that was only the baptism of John, yet there appeared in it to outward sense the Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and hereby was consecrated the Baptism of Christ Himself, whereby Christians were to be baptized. The Father in the voice which came from heaven, the Son in the person of the Mediator Himself, the Holy Ghost in the dove.

34. Now, why the number seventy-seven should contain all sins which are remitted in Baptism, there occurs this probable reason, for that the number ten implies the perfection of all righteousness, and blessedness, when the creature denoted by seven cleaves to the Trinity of the Creator; whence also the Decalogue of the Law was consecrated in ten precepts. Now the transgression of the number ten is signified by the number eleven; and sin is known to be transgression, when a man, in seeking something more, exceeds the rule of justice. And hence the Apostle calls avarice the root of all evils. And to the soul which goes a-whoring from God, it is said, in the Person of the same Lord, You were in hope, if you departed from Me, that you would have something more. Because the sinner then has in his transgression, that is, in his sin, regard to himself alone — in that he wishes to gratify himself by some private good of his own (whence they are blamed who seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's; and charity is commended, which seeks not her own ); therefore, this number eleven, by which transgression is signified, is multiplied, not ten times, but seven, and so makes up seventy-seven. For transgression looks not to the Trinity of the Creator, but to the creature, that is, to the man himself, which creature the number seven denotes. Three, because of the soul, in which there is a kind of image of the Trinity of the Creator (for it is in the soul that man has been made after the image of God); and four, because of the body. For the four elements of which the body is made up are known by all. And if any one know them not, he may easily remember, that this body of the world, in which our bodies move along, has, so to say, four principal parts, which even Holy Scripture is constantly making mention of, East, and West, and North, and South. And forasmuch as sins are committed either by the mind, as in the will only, or by the works of the body also, and so visibly; therefore the Prophet Amos continually introduces God as threatening, and saying, For three and four iniquities I will not turn away, that is, I will not dissemble My wrath. Three, because of the nature of the soul; four, because of that of the body; of which two, man consists.

35. So, then, seven times eleven, that is, as has been explained, the transgression of righteousness, which has regard only to the sinner himself, make up the number seventy-seven, in which it is signified, that all sins which are remitted in Baptism are contained. And hence it is that Luke ascends up through seventy-seven generations unto God, as showing that man is reconciled unto God by the abolition of all sin. Hence the Lord Himself says to Peter, who asked Him how oft he ought to forgive a brother, I say not unto you seven times, but until seventy times and seven. Now, whatever else can be drawn out of these recesses and treasures of God's mysteries by those who are more diligent and more worthy than I, receive. Yet have I spoken according to my poor ability, as the Lord has aided and given me power, and as I best could, considering also the little time I had. If any one of you be capable of anything further, let him knock at Him from whom I too receive what I am able to receive and speak. But, above all things, remember this; not to be disturbed by the Scriptures, which you do not yet understand, nor be puffed up by what you do understand; but what you do not understand, with submission wait for, and what you do understand, hold fast with charity.

Sermon 2 on the New Testament

[LII. Ben.]

Of the words of Matthew 3:13, Then Jesus comes from Galilee to the Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. Concerning the Trinity.

1. The lesson of the Gospel has set before me a subject whereof to speak to you, beloved, as though by the Lord's command, and by His command in very deed. For my heart has waited for an order as it were from Him to speak, that I might understand thereby that it is His wish that I should speak on that which He has also willed should be read to you. Let your zeal and devotion then give ear, and before the Lord our God Himself aid ye my labour. For we behold and see as it were in a divine spectacle exhibited to us, the notice of our God in Trinity, conveyed to us at the river Jordan. For when Jesus came and was baptized by John, the Lord by His servant (and this He did for an example of humility; for He shows that in this same humility is righteousness fulfilled, when as John said to Him, I have need to be baptized by You, and You come to me? He answered, Suffer it to be so now, that all righteousness may be fulfilled ), when He was baptized then, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit came down upon Him in the form of a Dove: and then a Voice from on high followed, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Here then we have the Trinity in a certain sort distinguished. The Father in the Voice — the Son in the Man — the Holy Spirit in the Dove. It was only needful just to mention this, for most obvious is it to see. For the notice of the Trinity is here conveyed to us plainly and without leaving room for doubt or hesitation. For the Lord Christ Himself coming in the form of a servant to John, is doubtlessly the Son: for it cannot be said that it was the Father, or the Holy Spirit. Jesus, it is said, comes; that is, the Son of God. And who has any doubt about the Dove? Or who says, What is the Dove? when the Gospel itself most plainly testifies, The Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove. And in like manner as to that voice there can be no doubt that it is the Father's, when He says, You are My Son. Thus then we have the Trinity distinguished.

2. And if we consider the places, I say with confidence (though in fear I say it), that the Trinity is in a manner separable. When Jesus came to the river, He came from one place to another; and the Dove descended from heaven to earth, from one place to another; and the very Voice of the Father sounded neither from the earth, nor from the water, but from heaven; these three are as it were separated in places, in offices, and in works. But one may say to me, Show the Trinity to be inseparable rather. Remember that you who art speaking art a Catholic, and to Catholics are you speaking. For thus does our faith teach, that is, the true, the right Catholic faith, gathered not by the opinion of private judgment, but by the witness of the Scriptures, not subject to the fluctuations of heretical rashness, but grounded on Apostolic truth: this we know, this we believe. This though we see it not with our eyes, nor as yet with the heart, so long as we are being purified by faith, yet by this faith we most lightly and most strenuously maintain — That the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are a Trinity inseparable; One God, not three Gods. But yet so One God, as that the Son is not the Father, and the Father is not the Son, and the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son, but the Spirit of the Father and of the Son. This ineffable Divinity, abiding ever in itself, making all things new, creating, creating anew, sending, recalling, judging, delivering, this Trinity, I say, we know to be at once ineffable and inseparable.

3. What am I then about? See: The Son came separately in the Man; The Holy Spirit descended separately from heaven in the form of a Dove; The Voice of the Father sounded separately out of heaven, This is My Son. Where then is this inseparable Trinity? God has made you attentive by my words. Pray for me, and open, as it were, the folds of your hearts, and may He grant you wherewith your hearts so opened may be filled. Share my travail with me. For you see what I have undertaken; and not only what, but who I am that have undertaken it, and of what I wish to speak, and where and what my position is, even in that body which is corruptible, and presses down the soul, and the earthly habitation weighs down the mind that muses upon many things. When therefore I abstract my mind from the multiplicity of things, and gather it up into the One God, the inseparable Trinity, that so I may see something which I may say of it, think ye that in this body which presses down the soul, I shall be able to say (in order that I may speak to you something worthy of the subject), O Lord, I have lifted up my soul unto You. May He assist me, may He lift it up with me. For I am too infirm in respect of Him, and He in respect of me is too mighty.

4. Now this is a question which is often proposed by the most earnest brethren, and often has place in the conversation of the lovers of God's word; for this much knocking is wont to be made unto God, while men say, Does the Father anything which the Son does not? Or does the Son anything which the Father does not? Let us first speak of the Father and the Son. And when He to Whom we say, Be Thou my helper, leave me not, shall have given good success to this essay of ours, then shall we understand how that the Holy Spirit also is in no way separated from the operation of the Father and the Son. As concerning the Father and the Son, then, brethren, give ear. Does the Father anything without the Son? We answer, No. Do you doubt it? For what does He without Him by Whom all things were made? All things, says the Scripture, were made by Him. And to inculcate it fully upon the slow, and hard, and disputatious it added, And without Him was not anything made.

5. What then, brethren? All things were made by Him. We understand then by this that the whole creation which was made by the Son, the Father made by His Word — God, by His Power and Wisdom. Shall we then say, All things indeed when they were created, were made by Him, but now the Father does not all things by Him? God forbid! Be such a thought as this far from the hearts of believers; be it driven away from the mind of the devout; from the understanding of the godly! It cannot be that He created by Him, and does not govern by Him. God forbid that what exists should be governed without Him, when by Him it was made, that it might have existence! But let us show by the testimony of the same Scripture that not only were all things created and made by Him as we have quoted from the Gospel, All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made, but that the things which were made are also governed and ordered by Him. You acknowledge Christ then to be the Power and Wisdom of God; acknowledge too what is said of Wisdom, She reaches from one end to another mightily, and sweetly does she order all things. Let us not then doubt that by Him are all things ruled, by whom all things were made. So then the Father does nothing without the Son, nor the Son without the Father.

6. But so a difficulty meets us, which we have undertaken to solve in the Name of the Lord, and by His will. If the Father does nothing without the Son, nor the Son without the Father, will it not follow, that we must say that the Father also was born of the Virgin Mary, the Father suffered under Pontius Pilate, the Father rose again and ascended into heaven? God forbid! We do not say this, because we do not believe it. For I believed, therefore have I spoken: we also believe, and therefore speak. What is in the Creed? That the Son was born of a Virgin, not the Father. What is in the Creed? That the Son suffered under Pontius Pilate and was dead, not the Father. Have we forgotten, that some, misunderstanding this, are called Patripassians, who say that the Father Himself was born of a woman, that the Father Himself suffered, that the Father is the same as the Son, that they are two names, not two things? And these has the Church Catholic separated from the communion of saints, that they might not deceive any, but dispute in separation from her.

7. Let us then recall the difficulty of the question to your minds. One may say to me, You have said that the Father does nothing without the Son, nor the Son without the Father, and testimonies you have adduced out of the Scriptures, that the Father does nothing without the Son, for that 'all things were made by Him;' and again, that that which was made is not governed without the Son, for that He is the Wisdom of the Father, 'reaching from one end to another mightily, and sweetly ordering all things.' And now you tell me, as if contradicting yourself, that the Son was born of a Virgin, and not the Father; the Son suffered, not the Father; the Son rose again, not the Father. See then, here I see the Son doing something which the Father does not. You should therefore either confess that the Son does something without the Father, or else that the Father also was born and suffered, and died and rose again. Say one or the other of these, choose one of the two. No: I will choose neither, I will say neither the one nor the other. I will neither say the Son does anything without the Father, for I should lie were I to say so; nor that the Father was born, suffered, and died, and rose again, for I should equally lie were I to say this. How then, says he, will you disentangle yourself from these straits?

8. The proposing of the question pleases you. May God grant His aid, that its solution may please you too. See, what I am asking Him, that He would free both me and you. For in one faith do we stand in the Name of Christ; and in one house do we live under one Lord, and in one body are we members under One Head, and by One Spirit are we quickened. That the Lord then may set both me who speak, and you who hear, free from the straits of this most perplexing question, I say as follows: The Son indeed and not the Father was born of the Virgin Mary; but this very birth of the Son, not of the Father, was the work both of the Father and the Son. The Father indeed suffered not, but the Son, yet the suffering of the Son was the work of the Father and the Son. The Father did not rise again, but the Son, yet the resurrection of the Son was the work of the Father and the Son. We seem then to be already quit of this question, but perhaps it is only by words of my own; let us see whether it is not as well by words divine. It is my place then to prove by testimonies of the sacred books, that the birth, and passion, and resurrection of the Son were in such sort the works of the Father and the Son, that whereas it is the birth, and passion, and resurrection of the Son only, yet these three things which belong to the Son only, were wrought neither by the Father alone, nor by the Son alone, but by the Father and the Son. Let us prove each several point, you hear as judges; the case has been already laid open; now let the witnesses come forth. Let your judgment say to me, as is wont to be said to pleaders in a cause, Establish what you promise. I will do so assuredly, with the Lord's assistance, and will cite the books of heavenly law. You have listened to me attentively while proposing the question, listen now with still more attention while I prove my point.

9. I must first teach you concerning the birth of Christ, how it is the work of the Father and the Son, though what the Father and the Son did work pertains only to the Son. I will quote Paul; one competently versed in the divine law. That Paul, I say, will I quote, who prescribes the laws of peace, not of litigation, for lawyers at this day also have a Paul who prescribes the laws of the courts, not the Christian's laws. Let the holy Apostle show us then how the birth of the Son was the work of the Father. But, says he, when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law, to redeem them that were under the Law. Thus have ye heard him, and because it is plain and express, have understood. See, the Father made the Son to be born of a Virgin. For when the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son; the Father sent His Christ. How sent He Him? made of a woman, made under the Law. The Father then made Him of a woman under the Law.

10. Does this perhaps perplex you, that I said of a virgin, and Paul says of a woman? Let not this perplex you; let us not stop here, for I am not speaking to persons without instruction. The Scripture says both, both of a virgin, and of a woman. Where says it, of a virgin? Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son. And of a woman, as you have just heard; here there is no contradiction. For the peculiarity of the Hebrew tongue gives the name of women not to such as have lost their virgin estate, but to females generally. You have a plain passage in Genesis, when Eve herself was first made, He made her a woman. Scripture also in another place says, that God ordered the women to be separated which had not known man by lying with him. This then ought now to be well established, and should not detain us, that so we may be able to explain, by the Lord's assistance, what will deservedly detain us.

11. We have then proved that the birth of the Son was the work of the Father; now let us prove that it was the work of the Son also. Now what is the birth of the Son of the Virgin Mary? Surely it is His assumption of the form of a servant in the Virgin's womb. Is the birth of the Son ought else, but the taking of the form of a servant in the womb of the Virgin? Now hear how that this was the work of the Son also. Who when He was in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied Himself, taking upon Him the form of a servant. When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, who was made His Son of the seed of David according to the flesh. In this then we see that the birth of the Son was the work of the Father; but in that the Son Himself emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, we see that the birth of the Son was the work also of the Son Himself. This then has been proved; so let us pass on from this point, and receive ye with attention that which comes next in order.

12. Let us prove that the Passion also of the Son was the work of the Father and the Son. We may see that the Passion of the Son is the work of the Father, since it is written, Who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all; and that the Passion of the Son was His own work also, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me. The Father delivered up the Son, and the Son delivered up Himself. This Passion was wrought out for one, but by both. As therefore the birth, so the Passion, of Christ, was not the work of the Son without the Father, nor of the Father without the Son. The Father delivered up the Son, and the Son delivered up Himself. What did Judas in it, but his own sin? Let us then pass on from this point also, and come we to the resurrection.

13. Let us see the Son indeed, and not the Father, rising again, but both the Father and the Son working the resurrection of the Son. The resurrection of the Son is the work of the Father; for it is written, Wherefore He exalted Him, and gave Him a name which is above every name. The Father therefore raised the Son to life again, in exalting, and awakening Him from the dead. And did the Son also raise Himself? Assuredly He did. For He said of the temple, as the figure of His own body, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it again. Lastly, as the laying down of life has reference to the Passion, so the taking it again has reference to the resurrection. Let us see then if the Son laid down His life indeed, and the Father restored His life to Him, and not He to Himself. For that the Father restored it is plain. For so says the Psalm, Raise Me up, and I will requite them. But why do ye wait for a proof from me that the Son also restored life to Himself? Let Him speak Himself; I have power to lay down My life. I have not yet said what I promised. I have said, to lay it down; and you are crying out already, for you are flying past me. For well-instructed as you are in the school of your heavenly teacher, as attentively listening to, and in pious affection rehearsing, what is read, you are not ignorant of what comes next. I have power, says He,to lay down My life, and I have power to take it again. No man takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself, and take it again.

14. I have made good what I promised; I have established my propositions with, as I think, the strongest proofs and testimonies. Hold fast then what you have heard. I will recapitulate it briefly, and entrust it to be stored up in your minds as a thing, to my thinking, of the greatest usefulness. The Father was not born of the Virgin; yet this birth of the Son from the Virgin was the work both of the Father and the Son. The Father suffered not on the Cross; yet the Passion of the Son was the work both of the Father and the Son. The Father rose not again from the dead; yet the resurrection of the Son was the work both of the Father and the Son. You see then a distinction of Persons, and an inseparableness of operation. Let us not say therefore that the Father does anything without the Son, or the Son anything without the Father. But perhaps you have a difficulty as to the miracles which Jesus did, lest perhaps He did some which the Father did not! Where then is that saying, The Father who dwells in Me, He does the works? All that I have now said was plain; it needed to be barely mentioned; there was no necessity for much labour to make it understood, but only that care should be taken, that it might be brought to your remembrance.

15. I wish to say something further, and here ask sincerely both for your more earnest attention, and your devotion to Godward. For none but bodies are held or contained in places suited to the nature of bodies. The Divinity is beyond all such places: let no one seek for it as though it were in space. It is everywhere invisible and inseparably present; not in one part greater, and another smaller; but whole everywhere, and nowhere divided. Who can see? Who can comprehend this? Let us restrain ourselves: let us remember who we are; and of Whom we speak. Let this and that, or whatever appertains to the nature of God, be with a pious faith embraced, with a holy respect entertained, and as far as is allowed us, as far as is possible for us, in an unspeakable sort understood. Let words be hushed: let the tongue be silent, let the heart be aroused, let the heart be lifted up there. For it is not of such a nature as that it can ascend into the heart of man; but the heart of man must itself ascend to it. Let us consider the creatures (for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made ), if haply in the things which God has made, with which we have some familiarity of intercourse, we may find some resemblance, whereby we may prove that there are some three things which may be exhibited as three separably, yet whose operation is inseparable.

16. Come, brethren, give me your whole attention. But first of all consider what it is that I promise; if haply I can find any resemblance in the creature, for the Creator is too high above us. And perhaps some one of us, whose mind the glare of truth has, as it were, stricken with sparks of its brightness, can say those words, I said in my ecstasy.— What did you say in your ecstasy?— I am cast away from the sight of Your eyes. For it seems to me as if he who said this had lifted up his soul unto God, and had been carried beyond himself, while they said daily unto him, Where is your God? — had reached by a kind of spiritual contact to that unchangeable Light, and through the weakness of his sight had been unable to endure it, and so had fallen back again into his own, as it were, sick and languid state, and had compared himself with that Light, and had felt that the eye of his mind could not yet be attempered to the light of God's wisdom. And because he had done this in ecstasy, hurried away from his bodily senses, and taken up into God, when he was recalled in a manner from God to man, he said, I said in my ecstasy. For I saw in ecstasy I know not what, which I could not long endure, and being restored to my mortal estate, and the manifold thoughts of mortal things from the body which presses down the soul, I said, what? I am cast away from the sight of Your eyes. You are far above, and I am far below. What then, brethren, shall we say of God? For if you have been able to comprehend what you would say, it is not God; if you have been able to comprehend it, you have comprehended something else instead of God. If you have been able to comprehend Him as you think, by so thinking you have deceived yourself. This then is not God, if you have comprehended it; but if it be God, you have not comprehended it. How therefore would you speak of that which you can not comprehend?

17. Let us see then, if haply we cannot find something in the creature whereby we may prove that some three things are exhibited separately whose operation is yet inseparable. But whither shall we go? To the heaven, to dispute of the sun and moon and stars? To the earth, to dispute of shrubs, and trees, and animals which fill the earth? Or of the heaven and the earth itself, which contain all the things that are in heaven and earth? How long, O man, will you roam over the creation? Return unto yourself, see, consider, examine your own self. You are searching among the creatures for some three things which are separately exhibited, whose operation is yet inseparable; if then you are searching for this among the creatures, search for it first in your own self. For you are not other than a creature. It is a resemblance you are searching for. Would you search for it among the cattle? For of God it was you were speaking, when you were in search for this resemblance. You were speaking of the Trinity of Majesty ineffable, and because you failed in contemplating the Divine Nature, and with becoming humility confessed your infirmity, you came down to human nature; there then pursue your enquiry. Will you make your search among the cattle, in the sun, or the stars? What of these was made after the image and likeness of God? You may search in your own self for something more familiar to you, and more excellent than all these. For God made man after His own image and likeness. Search then in your own self, if haply the image of the Trinity bear not some vestige of the Trinity. And what is this image? It is an image very different from its model; yet different as it is, it is an image and a likeness notwithstanding, not indeed in the same way as the Son is the Image, being the Same Which the Father is. For an image is in one sort in a son, and in another in a mirror. There is great difference between them. Your image in your son is your own self, for the son is by nature what you are. In substance the same as you, in person other than you. Man then is not an image as the Only-begotten Son is, but made after a sort of image and likeness. Let him then search for something in himself, if so be he may find it, even for some three things which are exhibited separately, whose operation is yet inseparable. I will search, and do ye search with me. I will not search in you, but do ye search in yourselves, and I in myself. Let us search in concert, and in concert discuss our common nature and substance.

18. See, O man, and consider whether what I am saying be true. Have you a body and flesh? I have, you say. For how am I in this place that I now occupy, and how do I move from place to place? How do I hear the words of one who is speaking, but by the ears of my body? How do I see the mouth of him who is speaking, but by the eyes of my body? It is plain then that you have a body, no need is there to trouble one's self about so plain a matter. Consider then another point, consider what it is that acts through this body. For you hear by means of the ear, but it is not the ear that hears. There is something else within which hears by means of the ear. You see by means of the eye — examine this eye. What! Have you acknowledged the house, and paid no regard to him that inhabites it? Does the eye see by itself? Is it not another that sees by means of the eye? I will not say, that the eye of a dead man, from whose body it is plain the inhabitant has departed, sees not, but any man's eye who is only thinking of something else, sees not the form of the object that is before him. Look then into your inner man. For there it is rather that the resemblance must be sought for of some three things which are exhibited separately, whose operation is yet inseparable. What then is in your mind? Peradventure if I search, I find many things there, but there is something very near at hand, which is understood more easily. What then is in your soul? Call it to mind, reflect upon it. For I do not require that credit should be given me in what I am about to say; if you find it not in yourself, admit it not. Look inward then; but first let us see what had escaped me, whether man be not the image, not of the Son only, or of the Father only, but of the Father and the Son, and so consequently of course of the Holy Ghost also. The words in Genesis are, Let Us make man after Our own image and likeness. So then the Father does not act without the Son, nor the Son without the Father. Let Us make man after Our own image and likeness. Let us make, not, I will make, or You make, or Let him make, but, Let Us make after, not your image, or mine, but, after Our image.

19. I am asking, I am speaking remember of a distant resemblance. So let no one say, See what he has compared to God! I have advertised you of this already, and by anticipation have both put you on your guard, and have guarded myself. The two are indeed very far removed from each other, as the lowest from the Highest, as the changeable from the Unchangeable, the created from the Creator, the human nature from the Divine. Lo! I apprise you of this at first, that no one may say ought against me, because there is so great a difference in the things whereof I am about to speak. Lest then while I am asking for your ears, you should any of you be getting ready your teeth, remember I have undertaken merely to show, that there are some three things which are separately exhibited, whose operation is yet inseparable. How like or how unlike these things are to the Almighty Trinity is no concern of mine at present; but in the very creatures of the lowest order, and subject to change, we do find three things which may be separately exhibited, whose operation is yet inseparable. O carnal imagination! Obstinate, unbelieving conscience! Why as concerning that ineffable Majesty do you doubt as to that thing, which you can discover in your own self? For I ask you, O man, have you memory? If not, how have you retained what I have said? But perhaps you have forgotten already what I said but a little while ago. Yet these very words, I said— these two syllables, you could not retain except by memory. For how should you know they were two, if as the second sounded, you had forgotten the first? But why do I dwell longer on this? Why am I so urgent? Why do I so press conviction? For you have memory; it is plain. I am searching then for something else. Have you understanding? I have, you will say. For had you not memory, you could not retain what I said; and had you not understanding, you could not comprehend what you have retained. You have then this as well as the other. You recall your understanding unto that which you retain within, and so you see it, and by seeing are fashioned into that state as to be said to know. But I am searching for a third thing. Memory you have, whereby to retain what is said; and understanding you have, whereby to understand what is retained; but as touching these two, I ask again of you, Have you not with your will retained and understood? Undoubtedly, with my will, you will say. So then you have will.

These are the three things which I promised I would bring home to your ears and minds. These three things are in you, which you can number, but cannot separate. These three then, memory, understanding, and will — these three, I say, consider how they are separately exhibited, yet is their operation inseparable.

20. The Lord will be my present help, and I see that He is present to help me; by your understanding what I say, I see that He is present to help me. For I perceive by these your voices how that you have understood me, and I surely trust that He will still assist us, that you may comprehend the whole. I promised to show you three things which are separately exhibited whose operation is yet inseparable. See then; I did not know what was in your mind, and you showed me by saying, Memory. This word, this sound, this expression came forth from your mind to mine ears. For before that, you had the silent idea of this memory, but you did not express it. It was in you, but it had not yet come to me. But in order that that which was in you might be passed on to me, you expressed the very word, that is, Memory. I heard it, I heard these three syllables in the word, Memory. It is a noun, a word of three syllables, it sounded, and came to my ear, and impressed a certain idea on my mind. The sound has passed away, but the word whereby the idea was conveyed, and the idea itself, remains. But I ask, when you pronounced this word, Memory, you see certainly that it has reference to the memory only. For the other two things have their own proper names. For one is called the understanding, and the other, the will, not the memory, but that one alone is called memory. Nevertheless, whereby did you work in order to express this, in order to produce these three syllables? This word which has reference to the memory only, both memory was engaged in producing in you, that you might retain what you said, and understanding, that you might know what you retained, and will, that you might give expression to what you knew. Thanks be to the Lord our God! He has helped us, both you and me. For I tell you the truth, beloved, that I undertook the examination and explanation of this subject with exceeding fear. For I was afraid lest haply I might gladden the spirit of the more enlarged in mind, and inflict on the slower capacities an afflictive weariness. But now I see both by the attention with which you have heard, and the quickness with which you have understood me, that you have not only caught what I have said, but that you have anticipated my words. Thanks be to the Lord!

21. See then, henceforth I speak in all security of that which you have already understood; I am inculcating no unknown lesson, but am only conveying to you by recapitulation what you have already received. Now, of these three things, one only has been yet named and expressed; Memory is the name of one only of those three, yet all the three concurred in producing the name of this single one of the three. The single word memory could not be expressed, but by the operation of the will, and the understanding, and the memory. The single word understanding could not be expressed, but by the operation of the memory, the will, and the understanding; and the single word will could not be expressed, but by the operation of the memory and the understanding and the will. What I promised, then, I think has been explained, that which I have pronounced separately, I conceived inseparably. The three together have produced each one of these, but yet this one which the three have produced has reference not to the three, but to one. The three together have produced the word memory, but this word has reference to none but the memory only. The three together have produced the word understanding, but it has reference to none but the understanding only. The three together have produced the word will, but it has reference to none but the will only. So the Trinity concurred in the formation of the Body of Christ, but it belongs to none but Christ only. The Trinity concurred in the formation of the Dove from heaven; but it belongs to none but the Holy Spirit only. The Trinity formed the Voice from heaven, but this Voice belongs to none but the Father only.

22. Let no one then say to me, no one with unfair cavils try to press upon my infirmity, saying, Which then of these three, which you have shown to be in our mind or soul, which of them answers to the Father, that is, so to say, to the likeness of the Father, which of them to that of the Son, and which of them to that of the Holy Ghost? I cannot say — I cannot explain this. Let us leave somewhat to meditation and to silence. Enter into your own self; separate yourself from all tumult. Look into your inner self; see if you have there some sweet retiring place of conscience, where there may be no noise, no disputation, no strife, or debatings; where there will be not a thought of dissensions, and obstinate contention. Be meek to hear the word, that so you may understand. Perhaps you may soon have to say, You will make me hear of joy and gladness, and my bones shall rejoice; the bones, that is, which are humbled, not those that are lifted up.

23. It is enough, then, that I have shown that there are some three things which are exhibited separately, whose operation is yet inseparable. If you have discovered this in your own self; if you have discovered it in man; if you have discovered it in a being that walks on the earth, and bears about a frail body, which weighs down the soul; believe that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit may be exhibited separately, by certain visible symbols, by certain forms borrowed from the creatures, and still their operation be inseparable. This is enough. I do not say that memory is the Father — the understanding the Son — and will the Spirit; I do not say this; let men understand it how they will. I do not venture to say this. Let us reserve the greater truths for those who are capable of them: but, infirm as I am myself, I convey to the infirm only what is according to our powers. I do not say that these things are in any sort to be equalled with the Holy Trinity, to be squared after an analogy; that is, a kind of exact rule of comparison. This I do not say. But what do I say? See. I have discovered in you three things, which are exhibited separately, whose operation is inseparable; and of these three, every single name is produced by the three together; yet does not this name belong to the three, but to some one of the three. Believe then in the Trinity, what you can not see, if in yourself you have heard, and seen, and retained it. For what is in your own self you can know: but what is in Him who made you, whatever it be, how can you know? And if you shall be ever able, you are not able yet. And even when you shall be able, will you be able so to know God, as He knows Himself? Let then this suffice you, beloved: I have said all I could; I have made good my promise as you required. As to the rest which must be added, that your understanding may make advancement, this seek from the Lord.

Sermon 3 on the New Testament

[LIII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 5:3-8 , Blessed are the poor in spirit: etc., but especially on that, Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

1. By the return of the commemoration of a holy virgin, who gave her testimony to Christ, and was found worthy of a testimony from Christ, who was put to death openly, and crowned invisibly, I am reminded to speak to you, beloved, on that exhortation which the Lord has just now uttered out of the Gospel, assuring us that there are many sources of a blessed life, which there is not a man that does not wish for. There is not a man surely can be found, who does not wish to be blessed. But oh! If as men desire the reward, so they would not decline the work that leads to it! Who would not run with all alacrity, were it told him, You shall be blessed? Let him then also give a glad and ready ear when it is said, Blessed, if you shall do thus. Let not the contest be declined, if the reward be loved; and let the mind be enkindled to an eager execution of the work, by the setting forth of the reward. What we desire, and wish for, and seek, will be hereafter; but what we are ordered to do for the sake of that which will be hereafter, must be now. Begin now, then, to recall to mind the divine sayings, and the precepts and rewards of the Gospel. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven shall be yours hereafter; be poor in spirit now. Would you that the kingdom of heaven should be yours hereafter? Look well to yourself whose you are now. Be poor in spirit. You ask me, perhaps, What is to be poor in spirit? No one who is puffed up is poor in spirit; therefore he that is lowly is poor in spirit. The kingdom of heaven is exalted; but he who humbles himself shall be exalted.

2. Mark what follows: Blessed, says He, are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. You wish to possess the earth now; take heed lest you be possessed by it. If you be meek, you will possess it; if ungentle, you will be possessed by it. And when you hear of the proposed reward, do not, in order that you may possess the earth, unfold the lap of covetousness, whereby you would at present possess the earth, to the exclusion even of your neighbour by whatever means; let no such imagination deceive you. Then will you truly possess the earth, when you cleave to Him who made heaven and earth. For this is to be meek, not to resist your God, that in that you do well He may be well-pleasing to you, not you to yourself; and in that you suffer ill justly, He may not be unpleasing to you, but you to yourself. For no small matter is it that you shall be well-pleasing to Him, when you are displeased with yourself; whereas if you are well-pleased with your own self, you will be displeasing to Him.

3. Attend to the third lesson, Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. The work consists in mourning, the reward in consolation; for they who mourn in a carnal sort, what consolations have they? Miserable consolations, objects rather of fear. There the mourner is comforted by things which make him fear lest he have to mourn again. For instance, the death of a son causes the father sorrow, and the birth of a son joy. The one he has carried out to his burial, the other he has brought into the world; in the former is occasion of sadness, in the latter of fear: and so in neither is there consolation. That therefore will be the true consolation, wherein shall be given that which may not be lost, so that they may rejoice for their after consolation, who mourn that they are in exile now.

4. Let us come to the fourth work and its reward, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Do you desire to be filled? Whereby? If the flesh long for fullness, after digestion you will suffer hunger again. So He says, Whosoever drinks of this water shall thirst again. If the remedy which is applied to a wound heal it, there is no more pain; but that which is applied against hunger, food that is, is so applied as to give relief only for a little while. For when the fullness is past, hunger returns. This remedy of fullness is applied day by day, yet the wound of weakness is not healed. Let us therefore hunger and thirst after righteousness, that we may be filled with that righteousness after which we now hunger and thirst. For filled we shall be with that for which we hunger and thirst. Let our inner man then hunger and thirst, for it has its own proper meat and drink. I, says He, am the Bread which came down from heaven. Here is the bread of the hungry; long also for the drink of the thirsty, For with You is the well of life. )

5. Mark what comes next: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Do this, and so shall it be done to you; deal so with others, that God may so deal with you. For you are at once in abundance and in want — in abundance of temporal things, in want of things eternal. The man whom you hear is a beggar, and you are yourself God's beggar. Petition is made to you, and you make your petition. As you have dealt with your petitioner, so shall God deal with His. You are at once full and empty; fill the empty with your fullness, that your emptiness may be filled with the fullness of God.

6. Mark what comes next: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. This is the end of our love; an end whereby we are perfected, and not consumed. For there is an end of food, and an end of a garment; of food when it is consumed by the eating; of a garment when it is perfected in the weaving. Both the one and the other have an end; but the one is an end of consumption, the other of perfection. Whatsoever we now do, whatsoever we now do well, whatsoever we now strive for, or are in laudable sort eager for, or blamelessly desire, when we come to the vision of God, we shall require no more. For what need he seek for, with whom God is present? Or what shall suffice him, whom God suffices not? We wish to see God, we seek, we kindle with desire to see Him. Who does not? But mark what is said: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Provide yourself then with that whereby you may see Him. For (to speak after the flesh) how with weak eyes do you desire the rising of the sun? Let the eye be sound, and that light will be a rejoicing, if it be not sound, it will be but a torment. For it is not permitted with a heart impure to see that which is seen only by the pure heart. You will be repelled, driven back from it, and will not see it. For blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. How often already has he enumerated the blessed, and the causes of their blessedness, and their works and recompenses, their merits and rewards! But nowhere has it been said, They shall see God. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, they shall obtain mercy. In none of these has it been said, They shall see God. When we come to the pure in heart, there is the vision of God promised. And not without good cause; for there, in the heart, are the eyes, by which God is seen. Speaking of these eyes, the Apostle Paul says, The eyes of your heart being enlightened. At present then these eyes are enlightened, as is suitable to their infirmity, by faith; hereafter as shall be suited to their strength, they shall be enlightened by sight. For as long as we are in the body we are absent from the Lord; For we walk by faith, not by sight. Now as long as we are in this state of faith, what is said of us? We see now through a glass darkly; but then face to face.

7. Let no thought be entertained here of a bodily face. For if enkindled by the desire of seeing God, you have made ready your bodily face to see Him, you will be looking also for such a face in God. But if now your conceptions of God are at least so spiritual as not to imagine Him to be corporeal (of which subject I treated yesterday at considerable length, if yet it was not in vain), if I have succeeded in breaking down in your heart, as in God's temple, that image of human form; if the words in which the Apostle expresses his detestation of those, who, professing themselves to be wise became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, have entered deep into your minds, and taken possession of your inmost heart; if you do now detest and abhor such impiety, if you keep clean for the Creator His own temple, if you would that He should come and make His abode with you, Think of the Lord with a good heart, and in simplicity of heart seek for Him. Mark well who it is to whom you say, if so be ye do say it, and say it in sincerity, My heart said to You, I will seek Your face. Let your heart also say, and add, Your face, Lord, will I seek. For so will you seek it well, because you seek with your heart. Scripture speaks of the face of God, the arm of God, the hands of God, the feet of God, the seat of God, and His footstool; but think not in all this of human members. If you would be a temple of truth, break down the idol of falsehood. The hand of God is His power. The face of God is the knowledge of God. The feet of God are His presence. The seat of God, if you are so minded, is your own self. But perhaps you will venture to deny that Christ is God! Not so, you say. Do you grant this too, that Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God? I grant it, you say. Hear then, The soul of the righteous is the seat of wisdom. Yes. For where has God His seat, but where He dwells? And where does He dwell, but in His temple? For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. Take heed therefore how you receive God. God is a Spirit, and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth. Let the ark of testimony enter now into your heart, if you are so minded, and let Dagon fall. Now therefore give ear at once, and learn to long for God; learn to make ready that whereby you may see God. Blessed, says He, are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Why do you make ready the eyes of the body? If He should be seen by them, that which should be so seen would be contained in space. But He who is wholly everywhere is not contained in space. Cleanse that whereby He may be seen.

8. Hear and understand, if haply through His help I shall be able to explain it; and may He help us to the understanding of all the above-named works and rewards, how suitable rewards are apportioned to their corresponding duties. For where is there anything said of a reward which does not suit, and harmonize with its work? Because the lowly seem as it were aliens from a kingdom, He says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Because meek men are easily despoiled of their land, He says, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the land. Now the rest are plain at once; they are understood of themselves, and require no one to treat of them at length; they need only one to mention them. Blessed are they that mourn. Now what mourner does not desire consolation? They, says He, shall be comforted. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness. What hungry and thirsty man does not seek to be filled? And they, says He, shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful. What merciful man but wishes that a return should be rendered him by God of His own work, that it may be so done to him, as he does to the poor? Blessed, says He, are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. How in each case has every duty its appropriate reward: and nothing is introduced in the reward which does not suit the precept! For the precept is, that you be poor in spirit; the reward, that you shall have the kingdom of heaven. The precept is, that you be meek; the reward, that you shall possess the earth. The percept is, that you mourn; the reward, that you shall be comforted. The precept is, that you hunger and thirst after righteousness; the reward, that you shall be filled. The precept is, that you be merciful; the reward, that you shall obtain mercy. And so the precept is, that you cleanse the heart; the reward, that you shall see God.

9. But do not so conceive of these precepts and rewards, as to think when you hear, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, that the poor in spirit, or the meek, or they that mourn, or they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, or the merciful, will not see Him. Think not of those that are pure in heart, that they only will see Him, while the others will be excluded from the sight of Him. For all these several characters are the self-same persons. They shall all see; but they shall not see in that they are poor in spirit, or meek, or in that they mourn, and hunger and thirst after righteousness, or are merciful, but in that they are pure in heart. Just as if bodily works were duly assigned to the several members of the body, and one were to say for example, Blessed are they who have feet, for they shall walk; blessed are they that have hands, for they shall work; blessed are they that have a voice, for they shall cry aloud; blessed are they who have a mouth and tongue, for they shall speak; blessed are they that have eyes, for they shall see. Even so our Lord arranging in their order the members as it were of the soul, has taught what is proper to each. Humility qualifies for the possession of the kingdom of heaven; meekness qualifies for possessing the earth; mourning for consolation; hunger and thirst after righteousness for being filled; mercy for the obtaining mercy; a pure heart for seeing God.

10. If then we desire to see God, whereby shall our eye be purified? For who would not care for, and diligently seek the means of purifying that eye whereby he may see Him whom he longs after with an entire affection? The Divine record has expressly mentioned this when it says, purifying their hearts by faith. The faith of God then purifies the heart, the pure heart sees God. But because this faith is sometimes so defined by men who deceive themselves, as though it were enough only to believe (for some promise themselves even the sight of God and the kingdom of heaven, who believe and live evilly); against these, the Apostle James, incensed and indignant as it were with a holy charity, says in his Epistle, You believe there is one God. Thou applaudest yourself for your faith, for you mark how that many ungodly men think there are gods many, and you rejoice in yourself because you believe that there is but one God; You do well: the devils also believe, and tremble. Shall they also see God? They shall see Him who are pure in heart. But who can say that unclean spirits are pure in heart? And yet they also believe and tremble.

11. Our faith then must be different from the faith of devils. For our faith purifies the heart; but their faith makes them guilty. For they do wickedly, and therefore say they to the Lord, What have we to do with You? When you hear the devils say this, do you think that they do not acknowledge Him? We know, they say, who You are: You are the Son of God. This Peter says, and is commended; the devil says it, and is condemned. Whence comes this, but that though the words be the same, the heart is different? Let us then make a distinction in our faith, and not be content to believe. This is no such faith as purifies the heart. Purifying their hearts, it is said, by faith. But by what, and what kind of faith, save that which the Apostle Paul defines when he says, Faith which works by love. That faith distinguishes us from the faith of devils, and from the infamous and abandoned conduct of men. Faith, he says. What faith? That which works by love, and which hopes for what God does promise. Nothing is more exact or perfect than this definition. There are then in faith these three things. He in whom that faith is which works by love, must necessarily hope for that which God does promise. Hope therefore is the associate of faith. For hope is necessary as long as we see not what we believe, lest perhaps through not seeing, and by despairing to see, we fail. That we see not, does make us sad; but that we hope we shall see, comforts us. Hope then is here, and she is the associate of faith. And then charity also, by which we long, and strive to attain, and glow with desire, and hunger and thirst. This then is taken in also; and so there will be faith, hope, and charity. For how shall there not be charity there, since charity is nothing else but love? And this faith is itself defined as that which works by love. Take away faith, and all you believe perishes; take away charity, and all that you do perishes. For it is the province of faith to believe, of charity to do. For if you believe without love, you do not apply yourself to good works; or if you do, it is as a servant, not as a son, through fear of punishment, not through love of righteousness. Therefore I say, that faith purifies the heart, which works by love.

12. And what does this faith effect at present? What does it by so many testimonies of Scripture, by its manifold lessons, its various and plentiful exhortations, but make us see now through a glass darkly, and hereafter face to face. But return not now in thought again to this your bodily face. Think only of the face of the heart. Force, compel, press your heart to think of things divine. Whatsoever occurs to your mind that is like to a body, throw it off from you. If you can not yet say, It is this, yet at least say, It is not this. For when will you be able to say, This is God? Not even then, when you shall see Him; for what you shall then see is ineffable. Thus the Apostle says, that he was caught up into the third heaven, and heard ineffable words. If the words are ineffable, what is He whose words they are? Therefore as you think of God, perchance there is presented to you the idea of some human figure of marvellous and exceeding greatness, and you have set it before the eyesof your mind as something very great, and grand, and of vast extension. Still somewhere you have set bounds to it. If you have, it is not God. But if you have not set bounds to it, where can the face be? You are fancying to yourself some huge body, and in order to distinguish the members in it, you must needs set bounds to it. For in no other way but by setting bounds to this large body, can you distinguish the members. But what are you about, O foolish and carnal imagination! You have made a large bulky body, and so much the larger, as you have thought the more to honour God. Another adds one cubit to it, and makes it greater than before.

13. But I have read, you will say. What have you read, who hast understood nothing? Yet tell me, what have you read? Let us not thrust back the babe in understanding with his play. Tell me, what have you read? Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. I hear you; I have read it also: but it may be that you think yourself to have the advantage, in that you have both read and believed. But I also believe what you have just said. Let us then believe it together. What do I say? Let us search it out together. Lo! Hold fast what you have so read and believed; Heaven is My throne (that is, my seat, for throne, in Greek, is seat, in Latin), and the earth is My footstool. But have you not read these words as well, Who has meted out the heaven with the palm of His hand? I conclude that you have read them; you acknowledge them, and confess that you believe them; for in that book we read both the one and the other, and believe both. But now think a while, and teach me. I make you my teacher, and myself the little one. Teach me, I pray you, Who is He that sits on the palm of His hand?

14. See, you have drawn the figure and lineaments of the members of God from a human body. And perhaps it has occurred to you to think, that it is according to the body that we were made after the Image of God. I will admit this idea for a time to be considered, and canvassed, and examined, and by disputation to be thoroughly sifted. Now then, if it please you, hear me; for I heard you in what you were pleased to say. God sits in heaven, and metes out the heaven with His palm. What! Does the same heaven become broad when it is God's seat, and narrow, when He metes it out? Or is God when sitting, limited to the measure of His palm? If this be so, God did not make us after His likeness, for the palm of our hand is much narrower than that part of the body whereon we sit. But if He be as broad in His palm as in His sitting, He has made our members quite unlike His. There is no resemblance here. Let the Christian then blush to set up such an idol in his heart as this. Wherefore take heaven for all saints. For the earth also is spoken of all who are in the earth, Let all the earth worship You. If we may properly say with regard to those who dwell on the earth, Let all the earth worship You, we may with the same propriety say also as to those who dwell in heaven, Let all the heaven bear You. For even the Saints who dwell on earth, though in their body they tread the earth, in heart dwell in heaven. For it is not in vain that they are reminded to lift up their hearts, and when they are so reminded, they answer, that they lift them up: nor in vain is it said, If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. In so far therefore as they have their conversation there, they do bear God, and they are heaven; because they are the seat of God; and when they declare the words of God, The heavens declare the glory of God.

15. Return then with me to the face of the heart, and make it ready. That to which God speaks is within. The ears, and eyes, and all the rest of the visible members, are either the dwelling place or the instrument of some thing within. It is the inner man where Christ does dwell, now by faith, and hereafter He will dwell in it, by the presence of His Divinity, when we shall have known what is the length, and breadth, and depth, and height; when we shall have known also the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now then if you would enter into the meaning of these words, summon all your powers to comprehend the breadth, and length, and height, and depth. Wander not in the imagination of the thoughts through the spaces of the world, and the yet comprehensible extent of this so vast a body. Look for what I am speaking of in your own self. The breadth is in good works; the length is in long-suffering and perseverance in well-doing; the height is in the expectation of rewards above, for which height's sake you are bidden to lift up your heart. Do well, and persevere in well-doing, because of God's reward. Esteem earthly things as nothing, lest, when this earth shall be smitten with any scourge of that wise One, you say that you have worshipped God in vain, hast done good works in vain, hast persevered in good works in vain. For by doing good works you had as it were the breadth, by persevering in them you had as it were the length; but by seeking earthly things you have not had the height. Now observe the depth; it is the grace of God in the secret dispensation of His will. For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counsellor? and, Your judgments are as a great depth.

16. This conversation of well-doing, of perseverance in well-doing, of hoping for rewards above, of the secret dispensation of the grace of God, in wisdom not in foolishness, nor yet in finding fault, because one man is after this manner and another after that; for there is no iniquity with God; apply this, I say, if you think good, also to the Cross of your Lord. For it was not without a meaning that He chose this kind of death, in whose power it was even either to die or not. Now if it was in His power to die or not, why was it not in His power also to die in this or the other manner! Not without a meaning then did He select the Cross, whereby to crucify you to this world. For the breadth is the transverse beam in the cross where the hands are fastened, to signify good works. The length is in that part of the wood which reaches from this transverse beam to the ground. For there the body is crucified and in a manner stands, and this standing signifies perseverance. Now the height is in that part, which from the same transverse beam projects upward to the head, and hereby is signified the expectation of things above. And where is the depth but in that part which is fixed in the ground? For so is the dispensation of grace, hidden and in secret. It is not seen itself, but from thence is projected all that is seen. After this, when you shall have comprehended all these things, not in the mere understanding but in action also (for a good understanding have all they that do hereafter), then if you can, stretch out yourself to attain to the knowledge of the love of Christ which passes knowledge. When you have attained to it, you will be filled with all the fullness of God. Then will be fulfilled the face to face. Now you will be filled with all the fullness of God, not as if God should be full of you, but so that you shall be full of God. Seek there, if you can, for any bodily face. Away with such trifles from the eye of the mind. Let the child cast away his playthings, and learn to handle more serious matters. And in many things we are but children; and when we were more so than we are, we were borne with by our betters. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see God. For by this is the heart purified; for that in it is that faith which works by love. Hence, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Sermon 4 on the New Testament

[LIV. Ben.]

On that which is written in the Gospel Matthew 5:16 , Even so let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven: and contrariwise, Chap. vi., Take heed that you do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them.

1. It is wont to perplex many persons, Dearly beloved, that our Lord Jesus Christ in His Evangelical Sermon, after He had first said, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven; said afterwards, Take heed that you do not your righteousness before men to be seen of them. For so the mind of him who is weak in understanding is disturbed, is desirous to obey both precepts, and distracted by diverse, and contradictory commandments. For a man can as little obey but one master, if he give contradictory orders, as he can serve two masters, which the Saviour Himself has testified in the same Sermon to be impossible. What then must the mind that is in this hesitation do, when it thinks that it cannot, and yet is afraid not to obey? For if he set his good works in the light to be seen of men, that he may fulfil the command, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven; he will think himself involved in guilt because he has done contrary to the other precept which says, Take heed that you do not your righteousness before men to be seen of them. And again, if fearing and avoiding this, he conceal his good works, he will think that he is not obeying Him who commands, saying, Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works.

2. But he who is of a right understanding, fulfils both, and will obey in both the Universal Lord of all, who would not condemn the slothful servant, if he commanded those things which could by no means be done. For give ear to Paul, the servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an Apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God, both doing and teaching both duties. See how his light shines before men, that they may see his good works. We commend ourselves, says he, to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And again, For we provide things honest, not only in the sight of God, but also in the sight of men. And again, Please all men in all things, even as I please all men in all things. See, on the other hand, how he takes heed, that he do not his righteousness before men to be seen of them. Let every man, says he, prove his own work, and then shall he have glorying in himself, and not in another. And again, For our glorying is this, the testimony of our conscience. And that, than which nothing is plainer, If, says he, I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. But lest any of those who are perplexed about the precepts of our Lord Himself as contradictory, should much more raise a question against His Apostle and say, How do you say, Please all men in all things, even as I also please all men in all things: and yet also sayest, If I yet pleased men; I should not be the servant of Christ? May the Lord Himself be with us, who spoke also in His servant and Apostle, and open to us His will, and give us the means of obeying it.

3. The very words of the Gospel carry with them their own explanation; nor do they shut the mouths of those who hunger, seeing they feed the hearts of them that knock. The intention of a man's heart, its direction and its aim, is what is to be regarded. For if he who wishes his good works to be seen of men, sets before men his own glory and advantage, and seeks for this in the sight of men, he does not fulfil either of those precepts which the Lord has given as touching this matter; because He has at once looked to doing his righteousness before men to be seen of them; and his light has not so shined before men that they should see his good works, and glorify His Father which is in heaven. It was himself he wished to be glorified, not God; he sought his own advantage, and loved not the Lord's will. Of such the Apostle says, For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. Accordingly, the sentence was not finished at the words, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works; but there was immediately subjoined why this was to be done; that they may glorify your Father which is in heaven; that when a man who does good works is seen of men, he may have only the intention of the good work in his own conscience, but may have no intention of being known, save for the praise of God, for their advantage-sake to whom he is thus made known; for to them this advantage comes, that God who has given this power to man begins to be well-pleasing to them; and so they do not despair, but that the same power might be vouchsafed to themselves also if they would. And so He did not conclude the other precept, Take heed that you do not your righteousness before men, otherwise than in the words, to be seen of them; nor did He add in this case, that they may glorify your Father which is in heaven, but rather, otherwise you have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. For by this He shows us, that they who are such, as He will not have His faithful ones to be, seek a reward in this very thing, that they are seen of men — that it is in this they place their good — in this that they delight the vanity of their heart — in this is their emptiness, and inflation, their swelling, and wasting away. For why was it not sufficient to say, Take heed that you do not your righteousness before men, but that he added, that you may be seen of them, except because there are some who do their righteousness before men; not that they may be seen of them, but that the works themselves may be seen; and the Father which is in heaven, who has vouchsafed to endow with these gifts the ungodly whom He had justified, may be glorified?

4. They who are such, neither do they account their righteousness as their own, but His, by the faith of whom they live (whence also the Apostle says, That I may win Christ, and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is of the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith; and in another place, That we may be the righteousness of God in Him. Whence also he finds fault with the Jews in these words, Being ignorant of God's righteousness, and wishing to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God ). Whosoever then wish their good works to be so seen of men, that He may be glorified from whom they have received those things which are seen in them, and that thereby those very persons who see them, may through the dutifulness of faith be provoked to imitate the good, their light shines truly before men, because there beams forth from them the light of charity; theirs is no mere empty fume of pride; and in the very act they take precautions, that they do not their righteousness before men to be seen of them, in that they do not reckon that righteousness as their own, nor do they therefore do it that they may be seen; but that He may be made known, who is praised in them that are justified, that so He may bring to pass in him that praises that which is praised in others, that is, that He may make him that praises to be himself the object of praise. Observe the Apostle too, how that when he had said, Please all men in all things, as I also please all men in all things; he did not stop there, as if he had placed in that, namely, the pleasing men, the end of his intention; for else he would have said falsely, If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ; but he subjoined immediately why it was that he pleased men; Not seeking, says he, my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. So he at once did not please men for his own profit, lest he should not be the servant of Christ; and he did please men for their salvation's sake, that he might be a faithful Minister of Christ; because for him his own conscience in the sight of God was enough, and from him there shined forth in the sight of men something which they might imitate.

Sermon 5 on the New Testament

[LV. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 5:22 , Whosoever shall say to his brother, you fool, shall be in danger of the hell of fire.

1. The section of the Holy Gospel which we just now heard when it was read, must have sorely alarmed us, if we have faith; but those who have not faith, it alarmed not. And because it does not alarm them, they are minded to continue in their false security, as knowing not how to divide and distinguish the proper times of security and fear. Let him then who is leading now that life which has an end, fear, that in that life which is without end, he may have security. Therefore were we alarmed. For who would not fear Him who speaks the truth, and says, Whosoever shall say to his brother, You fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Yet the tongue can no man tame. Man tames the wild beast, yet he tames not his tongue; he tames the lion, yet he bridles not his own speech; he tames all else, yet he tames not himself; he tames what he was afraid of, and what he ought to be afraid of, in order that he may tame himself, that he does not fear. But how is this? It is a true sentence, and came forth from an oracle of truth, But the tongue can no man tame.

2. What shall we do then, my brethren? I see that I am speaking indeed to a large assembly, yet, seeing that we are one in Christ, let us take counsel as it were in secret. No stranger hears us, we are all one, because we are all united in one. What shall we do then? Whosoever says to his brother, You fool, shall be in danger of hell fire: But the tongue can no man tame. Shall all men go into hell fire? God forbid! Lord, You are our refuge from generation to generation: Your wrath is just: You send no man into hell unjustly. Whither shall I go from Your Spirit? and whither shall I flee from You, but to You? Let us then understand, Dearly beloved, that if no man can tame the tongue, we must have recourse to God, that He may tame it. For if you should wish to tame it, you can not, because you are a man. The tongue can no man tame. Observe a like instance to this in the case of those beasts which we do tame. The horse does not tame himself; the camel does not tame himself; the elephant does not tame himself; the viper does not tame himself; the lion does not tame himself; and so also man does not tame himself. But that the horse, and ox, and camel, and elephant, and lion, and viper, may be tamed, man is sought for. Therefore let God be sought to, that man may be tamed.

3. Therefore, O Lord, are You become our refuge. To You do we betake ourselves, and with Your help it will be well with us. For ill is it with us by ourselves. Because we have left You, You have left us to ourselves. Be we then found in You, for in ourselves were we lost. Lord, You have become our refuge. Why then, brethren, should we doubt that the Lord will make us gentle, if we give up ourselves to be tamed by him? You have tamed the lion which you made not; shall not He tame you, who made you? For from whence did you get the power to tame such savage beasts? Are you their equal in bodily strength? By what power then have you been able to tame great beasts? The very beasts of burden, as they are called, are by their nature wild. For in their untamed state they are unserviceable. But because custom has never known them except as in the hands and under the bridle and power of men, do you imagine that they could have been born in this tame state? But now at all events mark the beasts which are unquestionably of savage kind. The lion roars, who does not fear? And yet wherein is it that you find yourself to be stronger than he? Not in strength of body, but in the interior reason of the mind. You are stronger than the lion, in that wherein you were made after the image of God. What! Shall the image of God tame a wild beast; and shall not God tame His own image?

4. In Him is our hope; let us submit ourselves to Him, and entreat His mercy. In Him let us place our hope, and until we are tamed, and tamed thoroughly, that is, are perfected, let us bear our Tamer. For oftentimes does our Tamer bring forth His scourge too. For if you bring forth the whip to tame your beasts, shall not God do so to tame His beasts (which we are), who of His beasts will make us His sons? Thou tame your horse; and what will you give your horse, when he shall have begun to carry you gently, to bear your discipline, to obey your rule, to be your faithful, useful beast? How do you repay him, who will not so much as bury him when he is dead, but cast him forth to be torn by the birds of prey? Whereas when you are tamed, God reserves for you an inheritance, which is God Himself, and though dead for a little time, He will raise you to life again. He will restore to you your body, even to the full number of your hairs; and will set you with the Angels for ever, where you will need no more His taming hand, but only to be possessed by His exceeding mercy. For God will then be all in all; neither will there be any unhappiness to exercise us, but happiness alone to feed us. Our God will be Himself our Shepherd; our God will be Himself our Cup; our God will be Himself our glory; our God will be Himself our wealth. What multiplicity of things soever you seek here, He alone will be Himself all these things to you.

5. Unto this hope is man tamed, and shall his Tamer then be deemed intolerable? Unto this hope is man tamed, and shall he murmur against his beneficent Tamer, if He chance to use the scourge? You have heard the exhortation of the Apostle, If you are without chastening, you are bastards, and not sons; for what son is he whom the father chastens not? Furthermore, he says, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence; shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live? For what could your father do for you, that he corrected and chastised you, brought out the scourge and beat you? Could he make you live for ever? What he could not do for himself, how should he do for you? For some paltry sum of money which he had gathered together by usury and travail, did he discipline you by the scourge, that the fruit of his labour when left to you might not be squandered by your evil living. Yes, he beats his son, as fearing lest his labours should be lost; forasmuch as he left to you what he could neither retain here, nor carry away. For he did not leave you anything here which could be his own; he went off, that so you might come on. But your God, your Redeemer, your Tamer, your Chastiser, your Father, instructs you. To what end? That you may receive an inheritance, when you shall not have to carry your father to his grave, but shall have your Father Himself for your inheritance. Unto this hope are you instructed, and do you murmur? And if any sad chance befall you, do you (it may be) blaspheme? Whither will you go from His Spirit? But now He lets you alone, and does not scourge you; or He abandons you in your blaspheming; shall you not experience His judgment? Is it not better that He should scourge you and receive you, than that He should spare you and abandon you?

6. Let us say then to the Lord our God, Lord, You have become our refuge from generation to generation. In the first and second generations You have become our refuge. You were our refuge, that we might be born, who before were not. You were our refuge, that we might be born anew, who were evil. You were a refuge to feed those that forsake You. You are a refuge to raise up and direct Your children. You have become our refuge. We will not go back from You, when You have delivered us from all our evils, and filled us with Your own good things. You give good things now, Thou dealest softly with us, that we be not wearied in the way; Thou dost correct, and chastise, and smite, and direct us, that we may not wander from the way. Whether therefore Thou dealest softly with us, that we be not wearied in the way, or chastisest us, that we wander not from the way, You have become our refuge, O Lord.

Sermon 6 on the New Testament

[LVI. Ben.]

On the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6:9, etc. to the Competentes.

1. The blessed Apostle, to show that those times when it should come to pass that all the nations should believe in Christ had been foretold by the Prophets, produced this testimony where it is written, And it shall be, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, shall be saved. For before time the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth was called upon among the Israelites only; the rest of the nations called upon dumb and deaf idols, by whom they were not heard, or by devils, by whom they were heard to their harm. But when the fullness of time came, that was fulfilled which had been foretold, And it shall be, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. Moreover, because the Jews, even those who believed in Christ, grudged the Gospel to the Gentiles, and said that the Gospel ought not to be preached to them who were not circumcised; because against these the Apostle Paul alleged this testimony, And it shall be, that whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord, shall be saved; he immediately subjoined, to convince those who were unwilling that the Gospel should be preached to the Gentiles, the words, But how shall they call upon Him, in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? Or how shall they hear without a preacher? Or how shall they preach except they be sent? Because then he said, how shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? you have not first learned the Lord's Prayer, and after that the Creed; but first the Creed, where ye might know what to believe, and afterwards the Prayer, where ye might know whom to call upon. The Creed then has respect to the faith, the Lord's Prayer to prayer; because it is he who believes, that is heard when he calls.

2. But many ask for what they ought not to ask, not knowing what is expedient for them. Two things therefore must he that prays beware of; that he ask not what he ought not; and that he ask not from whom he ought not. From the devil, from idols, from evil spirits, must nothing be asked. From the Lord our God Jesus Christ, God the Father of Prophets, and Apostles, and Martyrs, from the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from God who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all things in them, from Him must we ask whatsoever we have to ask. But we must beware that we ask not of Him that which we ought not to ask. If because we ought to ask for life, you ask it of dumb and deaf idols, what does it profit you? So if from God the Father, who is in heaven, you wish for the death of your enemies, what does it profit you? Have you not heard or read in the Psalm, in which the damnable end of the traitor Judas is foretold, how the prophecy spoke of him, Let his prayer be turned into sin? If then you rise up, and prayest for evil on your enemies, your prayer will be turned into sin.

3. You have read in the Holy Psalms, how that he who speaks in them imprecates, as it would seem, many curses upon his enemies. And surely, one may say, he who speaks in the Psalms is a righteous man; wherefore then does he so wish evil upon his enemies? He does not wish, but he foresees, it is a prophecy of one who is telling things to come, not a vow of malediction; for the prophets knew by the Spirit to whom evil was appointed to happen, and to whom good; and by prophecy they spoke as if they wished for what they did foresee. But how can you know whether he for whom today you are asking evil, may not tomorrow be a better man than yourself? But you will say, I know him to be a wicked man. Well: you must know that you are wicked too. Although it may be you take upon yourself to judge of another's heart what you do not know; but as for your own self you know that you are wicked. Do you not hear the Apostle saying, Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief? Now when the Apostle Paul persecuted the Christians, binding them wherever he found them, and drew them to the Chief Priests to be questioned and punished, what think ye, brethren, did the Church pray against him, or for him? Surely the Church of God which had learned instruction from her Lord, who said as He hung upon the Cross, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, so prayed for Paul (or rather as yet Saul), that that might be wrought in him which was wrought. For in that he says, But I was unknown by face to the churches of Judæa which are in Christ: only they heard that he who persecuted us in times past, now preaches the faith which once he destroyed; and they magnified God in me; why did they magnify God, but because they asked this of God, before it came to pass?

4. Our Lord then first of all cut off much speaking, that you might not bring a multitude of words unto God, as though by your many words you would teach Him. Therefore when you pray you have need of piety, not of wordiness. For your Father knows what is needful for you, before ye ask Him. Be loth then to use many words, for He knows what is needful for you. But lest perhaps any should say here, If He know what is needful for us, why should we use so much as a few words? Why should we pray at all? He knows Himself; let Him then give what He knows to be needful for us. Yes, but it is His will that you should pray, that He may give to your longings, that His gifts may not be lightly esteemed; seeing He has Himself formed this longing desire in us. The words therefore which our Lord Jesus Christ has taught us in His prayer, are the rule and standard of our desires. You may not ask for anything but what is written there.

5. Do ye therefore say, says he, Our Father, which art in heaven. Where ye see you have begun to have God for your Father. You will have Him, when you are new born. Although even now before you are born, you have been conceived of His seed, as being on the eve of being brought forth in the font, the womb as it were of the Church. Our Father, which art in heaven. Remember then, that you have a Father in heaven. Remember that you were born of your father Adam unto death, that you are to be born anew of God the Father unto life. And what ye say, say in your hearts. Only let there be the earnest affection of prayer, and there will be the effectual answer of Him who hears prayer. Hallowed be your Name. Why do you ask, that God's Name may be hallowed? It is holy. Why then do you ask for that which is already holy? And then when you ask that His Name may be hallowed, do you not as it were pray to Him for Him, and not for yourself? No. Understand it aright, and it is for your own self you ask. For this you ask, that what is always in itself holy, may be hallowed in you. What is be hallowed? Be accounted holy, be not despised. So then you see, that the good you wish, you wish for your own self. For if you despise the Name of God, for yourself it will be ill, and not for God.

6. Your kingdom come. To whom do we speak? And will not God's kingdom come, if we ask it not. For of that kingdom do we speak which will be after the end of the world. For God has a kingdom always; neither is He ever without a kingdom, whom the whole creation serves. But what kingdom then do you wish for? That of which it is written in the Gospel, Come, you blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom which is prepared for you from the beginning of the world. Lo here is the kingdom whereof we say, Your kingdom come. We pray that it may come in us; we pray that we may be found in it. For come it certainly will; but what will it profit you, if it shall find you at the left hand? Therefore, here again it is for your own self that you wish well; for yourself you pray. This it is that you long for; this desire in your prayer, that you may so live, that you may have a part in the kingdom of God, which is to be given to all saints. Therefore when you say, Your kingdom come, you pray for yourself, that you may live well. Let us have part in Your kingdom: let that come even to us, which is to come to Your saints and righteous ones.

7. Your will be done. What! If you say not this, will not God do His will? Remember what you have repeated in the Creed, I believe in God the Father Almighty. If He be Almighty, why do you pray that His will may be done? What is this then, Your will be done? May it be done in me, that I may not resist Your will. Therefore here again it is for yourself you pray, and not for God. For the will of God will be done in you, though it be not done by you. For both in them to whom He shall say, Come, you blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world; shall the will of God be done, that the saints and righteous may receive the kingdom; and in them to whom He shall say, Depart ye into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels, shall the will of God be done, that the wicked may be condemned to everlasting fire. That His will may be done by you is another thing. It is not then without a cause, but that it may be well with you, that you dost pray that His will may be done in you. But whether it be well or ill with you, it will still be done in you: but O that it may be done by you also. Why do I say then, Your will be done in heaven and in earth, and do not say, Your will be done by heaven and earth? Because what is done by you, He Himself does in you. Never is anything done by you which He Himself does not in you. Sometimes, indeed, He does in you what is not done by you; but never is anything done by you, if He do it not in you.

8. But what is in heaven and in earth, or, as in heaven so in earth? The Angels do Your will; may we do it also. Your will be done as in heaven so in earth. The mind is heaven, the flesh is earth. When you say (if so be you do say it) with the Apostle, With my mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin; the will of God is done in heaven, but not yet in earth. But when the flesh shall be in harmony with the mind, and death shall be swallowed up in victory, so that no carnal desires shall remain for the mind to be in conflict with, when strife in the earth shall have passed away, the war of the heart be over, and that be gone by which is spoken, the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other; so that you cannot do the things that you would; when this war, I say, shall be over, and all concupiscence shall have been changed into charity, nothing shall remain in the body to oppose the spirit, nothing to be tamed, nothing to be bridled, nothing to be trodden down; but the whole shall go on through concord unto righteousness, and the will of God will be done in heaven and in earth. Your will be done in heaven and in earth. We wish for perfection, when we pray for this. Your will be done as in heaven so in earth. In the Church the spiritual are heaven, the carnal are earth. So then, Your will be done as in heaven so in earth; that as the spiritual do serve You, so the carnal being reformed may serve You also. Your will be done as in heaven so in earth. There is yet another very spiritual meaning of it. For we are admonished to pray for our enemies. The Church is heaven, the enemies of the Church are earth. What then is, Your will be done as in heaven so in earth? May our enemies believe, as we also believe in You! May they become friends, and end their enmities! They are earth, therefore are they against us; may they become heaven, and they will be with us.

9. Give us this day our daily bread. Now here it is manifest, that it is for ourselves we pray. When you say, Hallowed be Your Name, it requires explanation how it is that it is for yourself you pray, not for God. When you say, Your will be done; here again is there need of explanation, lest you think that you are wishing well to God in this prayer, that His will may be done, and not rather that you are praying for yourself. When you say, Your kingdom come; this again must be explained, lest you think that you are wishing well to God in this prayer that He may reign. But from this place and onwards to the end of the Prayer, it is plain that we are praying to God for our own selves. When you say, Give us this day our daily bread, you profess yourself to be God's beggar. But be not ashamed at this; how rich soever any man be on earth, he is still God's beggar. The beggar takes his stand before the rich man's house; but the rich man himself stands before the door of the great rich One. Petition is made to him, and he makes his petition. If he were not in need, he would not knock at the ears of God in prayer. And what does the rich man need? I am bold to say, the rich man needs even daily bread. For how is it that he has abundance of all things? Whence but because God has given it him? What should he have, if God withdrew His hand? Have not many laid down to sleep in wealth, and risen up in beggary? And that he does not want, is due to God's mercy, not to his own power.

10. But this bread, Dearly beloved, by which our body is filled, by which the flesh is recruited day by day; this bread, I say, God gives not to those only who praise, but to those also who blaspheme Him; Who makes His sun to rise upon the evil and on the good, and sends rain upon the just and on the unjust. Thou praisest Him, and He feeds you; you blaspheme Him, He feeds you. He waits for you to repent; but if you will not change yourself, He will condemn you. Because then both good and bad receive this bread from God, do you think there is no other bread for which the children ask, of which the Lord said in the Gospel, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs? Yes, surely there is. What then is that bread? And why is it called daily? Because this is necessary as the other; for without it we cannot live; without bread we cannot live. It is shamelessness to ask for wealth from God; it is no shamelessness to ask for daily bread. That which ministers to pride is one thing, that which ministers to life another. Nevertheless, because this bread which may be seen and handled, is given both to the good and bad; there is a daily bread, for which the children pray. That is the word of God, which is dealt out to us day by day. Our bread is daily bread; and by it live not our bodies, but our souls. It is necessary for us who are even now labourers in the vineyard — it is our food, not our hire. For he that hires the labourer into the vineyard owes him two things; food, that he faint not, and his hire, wherewith he may rejoice. Our daily food then in this earth is the word of God, which is dealt out always in the Churches: our hire after labour is called eternal life. Again, if by this our daily bread you understand what the faithful receive, what you shall receive, when you have been baptized, it is with good reason that we ask and say, Give us this day our daily bread; that we may live in such sort, as that we be not separated from the Holy Altar.

11. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Touching this petition again we need no explanation, that it is for ourselves that we pray. For we beg that our debts may be forgiven us. For debtors are we, not in money, but in sins. You are saying perchance at this moment, And you too. We answer, Yes, we too. What, you Holy Bishops, are you debtors? Yes, we are debtors too. What you! My Lord. Be it far from you, do not yourself this wrong. I do myself no wrong, but I say the truth; we are debtors: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. We have been baptized, and yet are we debtors. Not that anything then remained, which was not remitted to us in Baptism, but because in our lives we are contracting ever what needs daily forgiveness. They who are baptized, and immediately depart out of this life, come up from the font without any debt; without any debt they leave the world. But they who are baptized and are still kept in this life, contract defilements by reason of their mortal frailty, by which though the ship be not sunk, yet have they need of recourse to the pump. For otherwise little by little will that enter in by which the whole ship will be sunk. And to offer this prayer, is to have recourse to the pump. But we ought not only to pray, but to do alms also, because when the pump is used to prevent the ship from sinking, both the voices and hands are at work. Now we are at work with our voices, when we say, Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. And we are at work with our hands when we do this, Break your bread to the hungry, and bring the houseless poor into your house. Shut up alms in the heart of a poor man, and it shall intercede for you unto the Lord.

12. Although therefore all our sins were forgiven in the laver of regeneration, we should be driven into great straits, if there were not given to us the daily cleansing of the Holy Prayer. Alms and prayers purge away sins; only let not such sins be committed, for which we must necessarily be separated from our daily Bread; avoid we all such debts to which a severe and certain condemnation is due. Call not yourselves righteous, as though ye had no cause to say, Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. Though you abstain from idolatry, from the consolations of astrologers, from the cures of enchanters, though ye abstain from the seductions of heretics, from the divisions of schismatics; though ye abstain from murders, from adulteries and fornications, from thefts and plunderings, from false witnessings, and all such other sins which I do not name, as have a ruinous consequence, for which it is necessary that the sinner be cut off from the altar, and be so bound in earth, as to be bound in heaven, to his great and deadly danger, unless again he be so loosed in earth, as to be loosed in heaven; yet after all these are excepted, still there is no want of occasions whereby a man may sin. A man sins in seeing with pleasure what he ought not to see. Yet who can hold in the quickness of the eye? For from this the eye is said to have received its very name, from its quickness. Who can restrain the ear or eye? The eyes may be shut when you will, and are shut in a moment, but the ears you can only with an effort close: you must raise the hand and reach them, and if any one hold your hand, they are kept open, nor can you close them against reviling, impure, or flattering, and seducing words. And when you hear any things you ought not to hear, though you do it not, do you not sin with the ear? For you hear something that is bad with pleasure? How great sins does the deadly tongue commit! Yea, sometimes sins of such a nature, that a man is separated from the altar for them. To the tongue pertains the whole matter of blasphemies, and many idle words again are spoken, which are not convenient. But let the hand do nothing wrong, let the feet run not to any evil, nor the eye be directed to immodesty; let not the ear be open with pleasure to filthy talk; nor the tongue move to indecent speech; yet tell me, who can restrain the thoughts? How often do we pray, my brethren, and our thoughts are elsewhere, as though we forgot before whom we are standing, or before whom we are prostrating ourselves! If all these things be collected together against us, will they not therefore not overwhelm us, because they are small faults? What matter is it whether lead or sand overwhelm us? The lead is all one mass, the sand is small grains, but by their great number they overwhelm you. So your sins are small. Do you see not how the rivers are filled, and the lands are wasted by small drops? They are small, but they are many.

13. Let us therefore say every day; and say it in sincerity of heart, and do what we say, Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. It is an engagement, a covenant, an agreement that we make with God. The Lord your God says to you, Forgive, and I will forgive. You have not forgiven; you retain your sins against yourself, not I. I pray you, my dearly beloved children, since I know what is expedient for you in the Lord's Prayer, and most of all in that sentence of it, Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors; hear me. You are about to be baptized, forgive everything; whatsoever any man have in his heart against any other, let him from his heart forgive it. So enter in, and be sure, that all your sins which you have contracted, whether from your birth of your parents after Adam with original sin, for which sins' sake ye run with babes to the Saviour's grace, or whatever after sins you have contracted in your lives, by word, or deed, or thought, all are forgiven; and you will go out of the water as from before the presence of your Lord, with the sure discharge of all debts.

14. Now because by reason of those daily sins of which I have spoken, it is necessary for you to say, in that daily prayer of cleansing as it were, Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors; what will you do? You have enemies. For who can live on this earth without them? Take heed to yourselves, love them. In no way can your enemy so hurt you by his violence, as you hurt yourself if you love him not. For he may injure your estate, or flocks, or house, or your man-servant, or your maid-servant, or your son, or your wife; or at most, if such power be given him, your body. But can he injure your soul, as you can yourself? Reach forward, dearly beloved, I beseech you, to this perfection. But have I given you this power? He only has given it to whom you say, Your will be done as in heaven so in earth. Yet let it not seem impossible to you. I know, I have known by experience, that there are Christian men who do love their enemies. If it seem to you impossible, you will not do it. Believe then first that it can be done, and pray that the will of God may be done in you. For what good can your neighbour's ill do you? If he had no ill, he would not even be your enemy. Wish him well then, that he may end his ill, and he will be your enemy no longer. For it is not the human nature in him that is at enmity with you, but his sin. Is he therefore your enemy, because he has a soul and body? In this he is as you are: you have a soul, and so has he: you have a body, and so has he. He is of the same substance as you are; you were made both out of the same earth, and quickened by the same Lord. In all this he is as you are. Acknowledge in him then your brother. The first pair, Adam and Eve, were our parents; the one our father, the other our mother; and therefore we are brethren. But let us leave the consideration of our first origin. God is our Father, the Church our Mother, and therefore are we brethren. But you will say, my enemy is a heathen, a Jew, a heretic, of whom I spoke some time ago on the words, Your will be done as in heaven so in earth. O Church, your enemy is the heathen, the Jew, the heretic; he is the earth. If you are heaven, call on your Father which is in heaven, and pray for your enemies: for so was Saul an enemy of the Church; thus was prayer made for him, and he became her friend. He not only ceased from being her persecutor, but he laboured to be her helper. And yet, to say the truth, prayer was made against him; but against his malice, not against his nature. So let your prayer be against the malice of your enemy, that it may die, and he may live. For if your enemy were dead, you have lost it might seem an enemy, yet have you not found a friend. But if his malice die, you have at once lost an enemy and found a friend.

15. But still you are saying, Who can do, who has ever done this? May God bring it to effect in your hearts! I know as well as you, there are but few who do it; great men are they and spiritual who do so. Are all the faithful in the Church who approach the altar, and take the Body and Blood of Christ, are they all such? And yet they all say, Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. What, if God should answer them, Why do ye ask me to do what I have promised, when you do not what I have commanded? What have I promised? To forgive your debts. What have I commanded? That ye also forgive your debtors. How can you do this, if you do not love your enemies? What then must we do, brethren? Is the flock of Christ reduced to such a scanty number? If they only ought to say, Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors, who love their enemies; I know not what to do, I know not what to say. For must I say to you, If you do not love your enemies, do not pray; I dare not say so; yea, pray rather that you may love them. But must I say to you, If you do not love your enemies, say not in the Lord's Prayer, Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors? Suppose that I were to say, Do not use these words. If you do not, your debts are not forgiven; and if you do use them, and do not act thereafter, they are not forgiven. In order therefore that they may be forgiven, you must both use the prayer, and do thereafter.

16. I see some ground on which I may comfort not some few only, but the multitude of Christians: and I know that you are longing to hear it. Christ has said, Forgive, that you may be forgiven. And what do ye say in the Prayer which we have now been discussing? Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. So, Lord, forgive, as we forgive. This you say, O Father, which art in heaven, so forgive our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. For this ye ought to do, and if you do it not, you will perish. When your enemy asks pardon, at once forgive him. And is this much for you to do? Though it were much for you to love your enemy when violent against you, is it much to love a man who is a supplicant before you? What have you to say? He was before violent, and then you hated him. I had rather you had not hated him even then: I had rather then when you were suffering from his violence, you had remembered the Lord, saying, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. I would have then much wished that even at that time when your enemy was violent against you, you had had regard to the Lord your God speaking thus. But perhaps you will say, He did it, but then He did it as being the Lord, as the Christ, as the Son of God, as the Only-Begotten, as the Word made flesh. But what can I, an infirm and sinful man, do? If your Lord be too high an example for you, turn your thoughts upon your fellow-servant. The holy Stephen was being stoned, and as they stoned him, on bended knees did he pray for his enemies, and say, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. They were casting stones, not asking pardon, yet did he pray for them. I would you were like him; reach forth. Why are you for ever trailing your heart along the earth? Hear, Lift up your heart, reach forward, love your enemies. If you can not love him in his violence, love him at least when he asks pardon. Love the man who says to you, Brother, I have sinned, forgive me. If you then forgive him not, I say not merely, that you dost blot this prayer out of your heart, but you shall be blotted yourself out of the book of God.

17. But if you then at least forgive him, or let go hatred from your heart, it is hatred from the heart I bid you forego, and not proper discipline. What if one who asks my pardon, be one who ought to be chastised by me! Do what you will, for I suppose that you love your child even when you chastise him. Thou regardest not his cries under the rod, because you are reserving for him his inheritance. This I say then, that you forego from your heart all hatred, when your enemy asks pardon of you. But perhaps you will say, he is playing false, he is pretending. O you judge of another's heart, tell me your own father's thoughts, tell me your own thoughts yesterday. He asks and petitions for pardon; forgive, by all means forgive him. If you will not forgive him, it is yourself you hurt, not him, for he knows what he has to do. You are not willing to forgive your own fellow-servant; he will go then to your Lord, and say to Him, Lord, I have prayed my fellow-servant to forgive me, and he would not; do Thou forgive me. Hath not the Lord power to release his servant's debts? So he, having obtained pardon from his Lord, returns loosed, while you remain bound. How bound? The time of prayer will come, the time must come for you to say, Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors; and the Lord will answer you, Thou wicked servant, when you owed Me so great a debt, you asked Me, and I forgave you; should not you also have had compassion on your fellow-servant, even as I had pity on you? These words are out of the Gospel, not of my own heart. But if on being asked, you shall forgive him who begs for pardon, then you can say this prayer. And if you have not as yet the strength to love him in his violence, still you may offer this prayer, Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. Let us pass on to the rest.

18. And lead us not into temptation. Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors, we say because of past sins, which we cannot undo, that they should not have been done. You can labour not to do what you have done before, but how can you bring about, that that which you have done should not be done? As regards those things which have been done already, that sentence of the prayer is your help, Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. As regards those into which you may fall, what will you do? Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, that is, from temptation itself.

19. Now these three first petitions, Hallowed be Your Name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done as in heaven so in earth, these three regard the life eternal, for God's Name ought to be hallowed in us always, we ought to be in His kingdom always, we ought to do His will always. This will be to all eternity. But daily bread is necessary now. All the rest that we pray for from this article, regards the necessities of the present life. Daily bread is necessary in this life; the forgiveness of our debts is necessary in this life. For when we shall arrive at the other life, there will be an end of all debts. In this life there is temptation, in this life the sailing is dangerous, in this life something is ever stealing its way in through the chinks of our frailties, which must be pumped out. But when we shall be made equal to the Angels of God; no more need to say and pray to God to forgive us our debts, when there will be none. Here then is the daily bread; here the prayer that our debts may be forgiven; here that we enter not into temptation; for in that life temptation does not enter; here that we may be delivered from evil; for in that life there will be no evil, but eternal and abiding good.

Sermon 7 on the New Testament

[LVII. Ben.]

Again, on Matt. vi . on the Lord's Prayer. To the Competentes.

1. The order established for your edification requires that you learn first what to believe, and afterwards what to ask. For so says the Apostle, Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord, shall be saved. This testimony blessed Paul cited out of the Prophet; for by the Prophet were those times foretold, when all men should call upon God; Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord, shall be saved. And he added, How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? Or how shall they hear without a preacher? Or how shall they preach except they be sent? Therefore were preachers sent. They preached Christ. As they preached, the people heard, by hearing they believed, and by believing called upon Him. Because then it was most rightly and most truly said, How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? therefore have ye first learned what to believe: and today have learned to call on Him in whom you have believed.

2. The Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, has taught us a Prayer; and though He be the Lord Himself, as you have heard and repeated in the Creed, the Only Son of God, yet He would not be alone. He is the Only Son, and yet would not be alone; He has vouchsafed to have brethren. For to whom does He say, Say, Our Father, which art in heaven? Whom did He wish us to call our Father, save His own Father? Did He grudge us this? Parents sometimes when they have gotten one, or two, or three children, fear to give birth to any more, lest they reduce the rest to beggary. But because the inheritance which He promises us is such as many may possess, and no one be straitened; therefore has He called into His brotherhood the peoples of the nations; and the Only Son has numberless brethren; who say, Our Father, which art in heaven. So said they who have been before us; and so shall say those who will come after us. See how many brethren the Only Son has in His grace, sharing His inheritance with those for whom He suffered death. We had a father and mother on earth, that we might be born to labours and to death: but we have found other parents, God our Father, and the Church our Mother, by whom we are born unto life eternal. Let us then consider, beloved, whose children we have begun to be; and let us live so as becomes those who have such a Father. See, how that our Creator has condescended to be our Father!

3. We have heard whom we ought to call upon, and with what hope of an eternal inheritance we have begun to have a Father in heaven; let us now hear what we must ask of Him. Of such a Father what shall we ask? Do we not ask rain of Him, today, and yesterday, and the day before? This is no great thing to have asked of such a Father, and yet ye see with what sighings, and with what great desire we ask for rain, when death is feared, when that is feared which none can escape. For sooner or later every man must die, and we groan, and pray, and travail in pain, and cry to God, that we may die a little later. How much more ought we to cry to Him, that we may come to that place where we shall never die!

4. Therefore is it said, Hallowed be Your Name. This we also ask of Him that his Name may be hallowed in us; for Holy is it always. And how is His Name hallowed in us, except while it makes us holy. For once we were not holy, and we are made holy by His Name; but He is always Holy, and His Name always Holy. It is for ourselves, not for God, that we pray. For we do not wish well to God, to whom no ill can ever happen. But we wish what is good for ourselves, that His Holy Name may be hallowed, that that which is always Holy, may be hallowed in us.

5. Your kingdom come. Come it surely will, whether we ask or no. Indeed, God has an eternal kingdom. For when did He not reign? When did He begin to reign? For His kingdom has no beginning, neither shall it have any end. But that we may know that in this prayer also we pray for ourselves, and not for God (for we do not say, Your kingdom come, as though we were asking that God may reign); we shall be ourselves His kingdom, if believing in Him we make progress in this faith. All the faithful, redeemed by the Blood of His Only Son, will be His kingdom. And this His kingdom will come, when the resurrection of the dead shall have taken place; for then He will come Himself. And when the dead are risen, He will divide them, as He Himself says, and He shall set some on the right hand, and some on the left. To those who shall be on the right hand He will say, Come, you blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom. This is what we wish and pray for when we say, Your kingdom come; that it may come to us. For if we shall be reprobates, that kingdom will come to others, but not to us. But if we shall be of that number, who belong to the members of His Only-begotten Son, His kingdom will come to us, and will not tarry. For are there as many ages yet remaining, as have already passed away? The Apostle John has said, My little children, it is the last hour. But it is a long hour proportioned to this long day; and see how many years this last hour lasts. But nevertheless, be ye as those who watch, and so sleep, and rise again, and reign. Let us watch now, let us sleep in death; at the end we shall rise again, and shall reign without end.

6. Your will be done as in heaven, so in earth. The third thing we pray for is, that His will may be done as in heaven so in earth. And in this too we wish well for ourselves. For the will of God must necessarily be done. It is the will of God that the good should reign, and the wicked be damned. Is it possible that this will should not be done? But what good do we wish for ourselves, when we say, Your will be done as in heaven, so in earth? Give ear. For this petition may be understood in many ways, and many things are to be in our thoughts in this petition, when we pray God, Your will be done as in heaven, so in earth. As Your Angels offend You not, so may we also not offend You. Again, how is Your will be done, as in heaven, so in earth, understood? All the holy Patriarchs, all the Prophets, all the Apostles, all the spiritual are as it were God's heaven; and we in comparison of them are earth. Your will be done, as in heaven, so in earth; as in them, so in us also. Again, Your will be done, as in heaven, so in earth; the Church of God is heaven, His enemies are earth. So we wish well for our enemies, that they too may believe and become Christians, and so the will of God be done, as in heaven, so also in earth. Again, Your will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Our spirit is heaven, and the flesh earth. As our spirit is renewed by believing, so may our flesh be renewed by rising again; and the will of God be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Again, our mind whereby we see truth, and delight in this truth, is heaven; as, I delight in the law of God, after the inward man. What is the earth? I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind? When this strife shall have passed away, and a full concord brought about of the flesh and spirit, the will of God will be done as in heaven, so also in earth. When we repeat this petition, let us think of all these things, and ask them all of the Father. Now all these things which we have mentioned, these three petitions, beloved, have respect to the life eternal. For if the Name of our God is sanctified in us, it will be for eternity. If His kingdom come, where we shall live for ever, it will be for eternity. If His will be done as in heaven, so in earth, in all the ways which I have explained, it will be for eternity.

7. There remain now the petitions for this life of our pilgrimage; therefore follows, Give us this day our daily bread. Give us eternal things, give us things temporal. You have promised a kingdom, deny us not the means of subsistence. You will give everlasting glory with Yourself hereafter, give us in this earth temporal support. Therefore is it day by day, and today, that is, in this present time. For when this life shall have passed away, shall we ask for daily bread then? For then it will not be called, day by day, but today. Now it is called, day by day, when one day passes away, and another day succeeds. Will it be called day by day, when there will be one eternal day? This petition for daily bread is doubtless to be understood in two ways, both for the necessary supply of our bodily food, and for the necessities of our spiritual support. There is a necessary supply of bodily food, for the preservation of our daily life, without which we cannot live. This is food and clothing, but the whole is understood in a part. When we ask for bread, we thereby understand all things. There is a spiritual food also which the faithful know, which you too will know, when you shall receive it at the altar of God. This also is daily Bread, necessary only for this life. For shall we receive the Eucharist when we shall have come to Christ Himself, and begun to reign with Him for ever? So then the Eucharist is our daily bread; but let us in such wise receive it, that we be not refreshed in our bodies only, but in our souls. For the virtue which is apprehended there, is unity, that gathered together into His body, and made His members, we may be what we receive. Then will it be indeed our daily bread. Again, what I am handling before you now is daily bread; and the daily lessons which you hear in church, are daily bread, and the hymns ye hear and repeat are daily bread. For all these are necessary in our state of pilgrimage. But when we shall have got to heaven, shall we hear the word, we who shall see the Word Himself, and hear the Word Himself, and eat and drink Him as the angels do now? Do the angels need books, and interpreters, and readers? Surely not. They read in seeing, for the Truth Itself they see, and are abundantly satisfied from that fountain, from which we obtain some few drops. Therefore has it been said touching our daily bread, that this petition is necessary for us in this life.

8. Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Is this necessary except in this life? For in the other we shall have no debts. For what are debts, but sins? See, you are on the point of being baptized, then all your sins will be blotted out, none whatever will remain. Whatever evil you have ever done, in deed, or word, or desire, or thought, all will be blotted out. And yet if in the life which is after Baptism there were security from sin, we should not learn such a prayer as this, Forgive us our debts. Only let us by all means do what comes next, As we forgive our debtors. Therefore, you who are about to enter in to receive a plenary and entire remission of your debts, must above all things see that you have nothing in your hearts against any other, so as to come forth from Baptism secure, as it were free and discharged of all debts, and then begin to purpose to avenge yourselves on your enemies, who in time past have done you wrong. Forgive, as you are forgiven. God can do no one wrong, and yet He forgives who owes nothing. How then ought he to forgive, who is himself forgiven, when He forgives all, who owes nothing that can be forgiven Him?

9. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Will this again be necessary in the life to come? Lead us not into temptation, will not be said, except where there can be temptation. We read in the book of holy Job, Is not the life of man upon earth a temptation? What then do we pray for? Hear what. The Apostle James says, Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. He spoke of those evil temptations, whereby men are deceived, and brought under the yoke of the devil. This is the kind of temptation he spoke of. For there is another sort of temptation which is called a proving; of this kind of temptation it is written, The Lord your God tempts (proves) you to know whether ye love Him. What means to know? To make you know, for He knows already. With that kind of temptation, whereby we are deceived and seduced, God tempts no man. But undoubtedly in His deep and hidden judgment He abandons some. And when He has abandoned them, the tempter finds his opportunity. For he finds in him no resistance against his power, but immediately presents himself to him as his possessor, if God abandon him. Therefore that He may not abandon us, do we say, Lead us not into temptation. For every one is tempted, says the same Apostle James, when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. Then lust, when it has conceived, brings forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. What then has he hereby taught us? To fight against our lusts. For you are about to put away your sins in Holy Baptism; but lusts will still remain, wherewith ye must fight after that you are regenerate. For a conflict with your own selves still remains. Let no enemy from without be feared: conquer your own self, and the whole world is conquered. What can any tempter from without, whether the devil or the devil's minister, do against you? Whosoever sets the hope of gain before you to seduce you, let him only find no covetousness in you; and what can he who would tempt you by gain effect? Whereas if covetousness be found in you, you take fire at the sight of gain, and art taken by the bait of this corrupt food. But if he find no covetousness in you, the trap remains spread in vain. Or should the tempter set before you some woman of surpassing beauty; if chastity be within, iniquity from without is overcome. Therefore that he may not take you with the bait of a strange woman's beauty, fight with your own lust within; you have no sensible perception of your enemy, but of your own concupiscence you have. Thou dost not see the devil, but the object that engages you you see. Get the mastery then over that of which you are sensible within. Fight valiantly, for He who has regenerated you is your Judge; He has arranged the lists, He is making ready the crown. But because you will without doubt be conquered, if you have not Him to aid you, if He abandon you: therefore do you say in the prayer, Lead us not into temptation. The Judge's wrath has given over some to their own lusts; and the Apostle says, God gave them over to the lusts of their hearts. How did He give them up? Not by forcing, but by forsaking them.

10. Deliver us from evil, may belong to the same sentence. Therefore, that you may understand it to be all one sentence, it runs thus, Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Therefore he added but, to show that all this belongs to one sentence, Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. How is this? I will propose them singly. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. By delivering us from evil, He leads us not into temptation; by not leading us into temptation, He delivers us from evil.

11. And truly it is a great temptation, dearly beloved, it is a great temptation in this life, when that in us is the subject of temptation, whereby we attain pardon, if in any of our temptations we have fallen. It is a frightful temptation, when that is taken from us, whereby we may be healed from the wounds of other temptations. I know that you have not yet understood me. Give me your attention, that you may understand. Suppose avarice tempts a man, and he is conquered in any single temptation (for sometimes even a good wrestler and fighter may get roughly handled ): avarice then has got the better of a man, good wrestler though he be, and he has done some avaricious act. Or there has been a passing lust; it has not brought the man to fornication, nor reached unto adultery, for when this does take place, the man must at all events be kept back from the criminal act. But he has seen a woman to lust after her; he has let his thoughts dwell on her with more pleasure than was right; he has admitted the attack; excellent combatant though he be, he has been wounded, but he has not consented to it; he has beaten back the motion of his lust, has chastised it with the bitterness of grief, he has beaten it back; and has prevailed. Still in the very fact that he had slipped, has he ground for saying, Forgive us our debts. And so of all other temptations, it is a hard matter that in them all there should not be occasion for saying, Forgive us our debts. What then is that frightful temptation which I have mentioned, that grievous, that tremendous temptation, which must be avoided with all our strength, with all our resolution; what is it? When we go about to avenge ourselves. Anger is kindled, and the man burns to be avenged. O frightful temptation! You are losing that, whereby you had to attain pardon for other faults. If you had committed any sin as to other senses, and other lusts, hence might you have had your cure, in that you might say, Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. But whoever instigates you to take vengeance, will lose for you the power you had to say, As we also forgive our debtors. When that power is lost, all sins will be retained; nothing at all is remitted.

12. Our Lord and Master, and Saviour, knowing this dangerous temptation in this life, when He taught us six or seven petitions in this Prayer, took none of them for Himself to treat of, and to commend to us with greater earnestness, than this one. Have we not said, Our Father, which art in heaven; and the rest which follows? Why after the conclusion of the Prayer, did He not enlarge upon it to us, either as to what He had laid down in the beginning, or concluded with at the end, or placed in the middle? For why said He not, if the Name of God be not hallowed in you, or if you have no part in the kingdom of God, or if the will of God be not done in you, as in heaven, or if God guard you not, that you enter not into temptation; why none of all these? But what says He? Verily I say unto you, that if you forgive men their trespasses; in reference to that petition, Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. Having passed over all the other petitions which He taught us, this He taught us with a special force. There was no need of insisting so much upon those sins in which if a man offend, he may know the means whereby he may be cured: need of it there was, with regard to that sin in which if you sin, there is no means whereby the rest can be cured. For this you ought to be ever saying, Forgive us our debts. What debts? There is no lack of them; for we are but men; I have talked somewhat more than I ought, have said something I ought not, have laughed more than I ought, have eaten more than I ought, have listened with pleasure to what I ought not, have drunk more than I ought, have seen with pleasure what I ought not, have thought with pleasure on what I ought not; Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. This if you have lost, you are lost yourself.

13. Take heed, my brethren, my sons, sons of God, take heed, I beseech you, in that I am saying to you. Fight to the uttermost of your powers with your own hearts. And if you shall see your anger making a stand against you, pray to God against it, that God may make you conqueror of yourself, that God may make you conqueror, I say, not of your enemy without, but of your own soul within. For He will give you His present help, and will do it. He would rather that we ask this of Him, than rain. For you see, beloved, how many petitions the Lord Christ has taught us; and there is scarce found among them one which speaks of daily bread, that all our thoughts may be moulded after the life to come? For what can we fear that He will not give us, who has promised and said, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you; for your Father knows that you have need of these things before ye ask Him. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. For many have been tried even with hunger, and have been found gold, and have not been forsaken by God. They would have perished with hunger, if the daily inward bread were to leave their heart. After this let us chiefly hunger. For, Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. But He can in mercy look upon our infirmity, and see us, as it is said, Remember that we are dust. He who from the dust made and quickened man, for that His work of clay's sake, gave His Only Son to death. Who can explain, who can worthily so much as conceive, how much He loves us?

Sermon 8 on the New Testament

[LVIII. Ben.]

Again on the Lord's Prayer, Matt. vi . To the Competentes.

1. You have just repeated the Creed, where in brief summary is contained the Faith. I have already before now told you what the Apostle Paul says, How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? Because then you have both heard, and learned, and repeated how you must believe in God; hear today how He must be called upon. The Son Himself, as you heard when the Gospel was read, taught His disciples and His faithful ones this Prayer. Good hope have we of obtaining our cause, when such an Advocate has dictated our suit. The Assessor of the Father, as you have confessed, who sits on the right hand of the Father; He is our Advocate who is to be our Judge. For from thence will He come to judge the quick and dead. Learn then, this Prayer also which you will have to repeat in eight days time. But whosoever of you have not repeated the Creed well, have yet time enough, let them learn it; because on the Sabbath day in the hearing of all who shall be present, you will have to repeat it: on the last Sabbath day, when you will be here to be baptized. But in eight days from today will you have to repeat this Prayer, which you have heard today.

2. Of which the first clause is, Our Father, which art in heaven. We have found then a Father in heaven; let us take good heed how we live on earth. For he who has found such a Father, ought so to live that he may be worthy to come to his inheritance. But we say all in common, Our Father. How great a condescension! This the emperor says, and this says the beggar: this says the slave, and this his lord. They say all together, Our Father, which art in heaven. Therefore do they understand that they are brethren, seeing they have one Father. Now let not the lord disdain to have his slave for a brother, seeing the Lord Christ has vouch-safed to have him for a brother.

3. Hallowed be Your Name, Your kingdom come. This hallowing of God's Name is that whereby we are made holy. For His Name is always Holy. We wish also for His kingdom to come; come it will, though we wish it not; but to wish and pray that His kingdom may come, is nothing else than to wish of Him, that He would make us worthy of His kingdom, lest haply, which God forbid, it should come, and not come to us. For to many that will never come, which nevertheless must come. For to them will it come, to whom it shall be said, Come, you blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. But it will not come to them to whom it shall be said, Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire. Therefore when we say, Your kingdom come, we pray that it may come to us. What is, may come to us? May find us good. This we pray for then, that He would make us good; for then to us will His kingdom come.

4. We go on, Your will be done as in heaven so in earth. The Angels serve You in heaven, may we serve You in earth! The Angels do not offend You in heaven, may we not offend You in earth! As they do Your will, so may we do it also! And here what do we pray for, but that we may be good? For when we do God's will (for He without doubt does His own will), then is His will done in us. And we may understand in another and a right sense these words, Your will be done as in heaven, so in earth. We receive the commandment of God, and it is well-pleasing to us, well-pleasing to our mind. For we delight in the law of God after the inward man. Then is His will done in heaven. For our spirit is compared to heaven, but to the earth our flesh. What then is Your will be done as in heaven, so in earth? That as Your command is well-pleasing to our mind, so may our flesh consent thereto; and so that strife be ended which is described by the Apostle, for the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. When the Spirit lusts against the flesh, His will is even now done in heaven; when the flesh lusts not against the Spirit, His will is now done in earth. There will be harmony complete when He will; be then the contest now, that there may be victory hereafter. Thus again, Your will be done as in heaven, so in earth, may be well understood, by making heaven to be the Church, because it is the throne of God; and earth the unbelievers, to whom it is said, Earth you are, and unto earth shall you go. When therefore we pray for our enemies, for the enemies of the Church, the enemies of the Christian name, we pray that His will may be done as in heaven, so in earth, that is, as in Your faithful ones, so in Your blasphemers also, that they all may become heaven.

5. There follows next, Give us this day our daily bread. It may be understood simply that we pour forth this prayer for daily sustenance, that we may have abundance: or if not that, that we may have no want. Now he said daily, for as long as it is called today. Daily we live, and daily rise, and are daily fed, and daily hunger. May He then give us daily bread. Why did He not say covering too, for the support of our life is in meat and drink, our covering in raiment and lodging. Man should desire nothing more than these. Forasmuch as the Apostle says, We brought nothing into this world, neither can we carry anything out: having food and covering, let us be therewith content. Perish covetousness, and nature is rich. Therefore if this prayer have reference to our daily sustenance, since this is a good understanding of the words, Give us this day our daily bread; let us not marvel, if under the name of bread other necessary things are also understood. As when Joseph invited his brethren, These men, says he, will eat bread with me today. Why, were they to eat bread only? No, but in the mention of bread only, all the rest was understood. So when we pray for daily bread, we ask for whatever is necessary for us in earth for our bodies' sake. But what says the Lord Jesus? Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Again, this is a very good sense of, Give us this day our daily bread, your Eucharist, our daily food. For the faithful know what they receive, and good for them it is to receive that daily bread which is necessary for this time present. They pray then for themselves, that they may become good, that they may persevere in goodness, and faith, and a holy life. This do they wish, this they pray for; for if they persevere not in this good life, they will be separated from that Bread. Therefore, Give us this day our daily bread. What is this? Let us live so,that we be not separated from Your altar. Again, the Word of God which is laid open to us, and in a manner broken day by day, is daily bread. And as our bodies hunger after that other, so do our souls after this bread. And so we both ask for this bread simply, and whatsoever is in this life needful both for our souls and bodies, is included in daily bread.

6. Forgive us our debts, we say, and we may well say so; for we say the truth. For who is he that lives here in the flesh, and has no debts? What man is there that lives so, that this prayer is not necessary for him? He may puff himself up, justify himself he cannot. It were well for him to imitate the Publican, and not swell as the Pharisee, who went up into the temple, and boasted of his deserts, and covered up his wounds. Whereas he who said, Lord, be merciful to me a sinner, knew wherefore he went up. This prayer the Lord Jesus, consider, my brethren, this prayer the Lord Jesus taught His disciples to offer, those great first Apostles of His, the leaders of our flock. If the leaders of the flock then pray for the remission of their sins, what ought the lambs to do, of whom it is said, Bring young rams unto the Lord? You knew then that you have repeated this in the Creed, because among the rest you have mentioned there the remission of sins. There is one remission of sins which is given once for all; another which is given day by day. There is one remission of sins which is given once for all in Holy Baptism; another which is given as long as we live here in the Lord's Prayer. Wherefore we say, Forgive us our debts.

7. And God has brought us into a covenant, and agreement, and a firm bond with Him, in that we say, as we also forgive our debtors. He who would say it effectually, Forgive us our debts, must say truly, as we also forgive our debtors. If this which is last he either say not, or say deceitfully, the other which is first he says in vain. We say to you then especially who are approaching to Holy Baptism, from your hearts forgive everything. And ye faithful, who taking advantage of this occasion are listening to this prayer, and our exposition of it, do ye wholly and from your hearts forgive whatsoever you have against any. Forgive it there where God sees. For sometimes a man remits with the mouth, and in the heart retains; he remits with the mouth for men's sake, and retains in the heart, as not fearing the eyes of God. But do ye remit entirely. Whatever you have retained up to these holy days, in these holy days at least remit. The sun ought not to go down upon your wrath, yet many suns have passed. Let then your wrath at length pass away also, now that we are celebrating the days of the great Sun, of that Sun of which Scripture says, Unto you shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings. What is, in His wings? In His protection. Whence it is said in the Psalms, Keep me under the shadow of Your wings. But as to others who in the day of judgment shall repent, but all too late, and who shall mourn, yet unavailingly, it has been foretold by Wisdom what they shall then say as they repent and groan for anguish of spirit, What has pride profited us, or what good has riches with our vaunting brought us? All these things are passed away like a shadow. And, Therefore have we erred from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness has not shined unto us, and the Sun of righteousness rose not upon us. That Sun rises upon the righteous only; but this sun which we see, God makes, daily to rise upon the good and evil. The righteous attain to the seeing of that Sun; and that Sun dwells now in our hearts by faith. If then you are angry, let not this sun go down in your heart upon your wrath; Let not the sun go down upon your wrath; lest haply you be angry, and so the Sun of righteousness go down upon you, and you abide in darkness.

8. Now do not think that anger is nothing. My eye was disordered because of anger, says the Prophet. Surely he whose eye is disordered cannot see the sun; and if he should try to see it, it were pain, and no pleasure to him. And what is anger? The lust of vengeance. A man lusts to be avenged, and Christ is not yet avenged, the holy martyrs are not yet avenged. Still does the patience of God wait, that the enemies of Christ, the enemies of the martyrs, may be converted. And who are we, that we should seek for vengeance? If God should seek it at our hands, where should we abide? He who has never in any matter done us harm, does not wish to avenge Himself of us; and do we seek to be avenged, who are almost daily offending God? Forgive therefore; from the heart forgive. If you are angry, yet sin not. Be angry, and sin not. Be angry as being but men, if so be you are overcome by it; yet sin not, so as to retain anger in your heart (for if you do retain it, you retain it against yourselves), lest ye enter not into that Light. Therefore forgive. What then is anger? The lust of vengeance. And what is hatred? Inveterate anger. If anger become inveterate, it is then called hatred. And this he seems to acknowledge, who when he had said, My eye is disordered because of anger; added, I have become inveterate among all mine enemies. What was anger when it was new, became hatred when it was turned into long continuance. Anger is a mote, hatred, a beam. We sometimes find fault with one who is angry, yet we retain hatred in our own hearts; and so Christ says to us, You see the mote in your brother's eye, and see not the beam in your own eye. How grew the mote into a beam? Because it was not at once plucked out. Because you suffered the sun to rise and go down so often upon your wrath, and made it inveterate, because you contracted evil suspicions, and watered the mote, and by watering hast nourished it, and by nourishing it, hast made it a beam. Tremble then at least when it is said, Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer. You have not drawn the sword, nor inflicted any bodily wound, nor by any blow killed another; the thought only of hatred is in your heart, and hereby are you held to be a murderer, guilty are you before the eyes of God. The other man is alive, and yet you have killed him. As far as you are concerned, you have killed the man whom you hate. Reform then, and amend yourself. If scorpions or adders were in your houses, how would ye toil to purify them, that you might be able to dwell in safety? Yet are you angry, yea inveterate anger is in your hearts, and there grow so many hatreds, so many beams, so many scorpions, so many vipers, and will you not then purify the house of God, your heart? Do then what is said, As we also forgive our debtors; and so say securely, Forgive us our debts. For without debts in this earth ye cannot live; but those great crimes which it is your blessing to have been forgiven in Baptism, and from which we ought to be ever free, are of one sort, and of another are those daily sins, without which a man cannot live in this world, by reason of which this daily prayer with its covenant and agreement is necessary; that as we say with all cheerfulness, Forgive us our debts; so we may say with all truth, As we also forgive our debtors. So much then have we said as touching past sins; what now for the future?

9. Lead us not into temptation: forgive what we have done already, and grant that we may not commit any more sins. For whosoever is overcome by temptation, commits sin. Thus the Apostle James says, Let no man say when he is tempted, he is tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts He any man. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then lust, when it has conceived, brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. Therefore that you be not drawn away by your lust; consent not to it. It has no means of conceiving, but by you. You have consented, hast as it were in your heart admitted her embrace. Lust has risen up, deny yourself to her, follow her not. It is a lust unlawful, impure, and shameful, it will alienate you from God. Give it not then the embrace of your consent, lest you have to bewail the birth; for if you consent, that is, when you have embraced her, she conceives, and when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin. Do you not yet fear? Sin brings forth death; at least, fear death. If you fear not sin, yet fear that whereunto it leads. Sin is sweet; but death is bitter. This is the infelicity of men; that for which they sin, they leave here when they die, and the sin themselves they carry with them. Thou dost sin for money, it must be left here: or for a country seat; it must be left here: or for some woman's sake; she must be left here; and whatsoever it be for which you sin, when you shall have closed your eyes in death, you must leave it here; yet the sin itself which you commit, you carry with you.

10. May sins then be forgiven; the past forgiven, and the future cease. But without them here below you can not live; be they either lesser sins, or small, or trivial. Yet let not even these small and trivial sins be despised. With little drops is the river filled. Let not even the lesser sins be despised. Through narrow chinks in the ship the water oozes in, the hold keeps filling, and if it be disregarded the ship is sunk. But the sailors are not idle; their hands are active, — active that the water may be drained off from day to day. So be your hands active, that you may pump from day to day. What is the meaning of be your hands active? Let them give, do good works, so be your hands engaged. Break your bread to the hungry, and bring the poor and houseless into your house; if you see the naked, clothe him. Do all you can, do it with the means you can command, do it cheerfully, and so put up your prayer with confidence. It will have two wings, a double alms. What is a double alms? Forgive, and you shall be forgiven. Give, and it shall be given unto you. The one alms is that which is done from the heart, when you forgive your brother his sin. The other alms is that which is done out of your substance, when you deal bread to the poor. Offer both, lest without either wing your prayer remain motionless.

11. Therefore when we have said, Lead us not into temptation, there follows, But deliver us from evil. Now whoever wishes to be delivered from evil, bears witness that he is in evil. And thus says the Apostle, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. But who is there that wishes for life, and loves to see good days? Seeing that all men in this flesh have only evil days; who does not wish it? Do what follows, Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips that they speak no guile: depart from evil, and do good, seek peace, and ensue it; and then you have got rid of evil days, and your prayer, deliver us from evil, is fulfilled.

12. Therefore the three first petitions, Hallowed be Your Name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done as in heaven, so in earth, are for eternity. But the four following relate to this life, Give us this day our daily bread. Shall we ask day by day for daily bread, when we shall have come to that fullness of blessing? Forgive us our debts. Shall we say this in that kingdom, when we shall have no debts? Lead us not into temptation. Shall we be able to say this then, when there will be no temptation? Deliver us from evil. Shall we say this, when there shall be nothing from which to be delivered? Therefore these four are necessary, because of our daily life, but the three first in reference to the life eternal. But all things let us ask, with a view of attaining to that life, and let us pray here, that we be not separated from it. Every day must this prayer be said by you, when you are baptized. For the Lord's Prayer is said daily in the Church before the Altar of God, and the faithful hear it. We have no fear therefore as to your not learning it carefully, because even if any of you should be unable to get it perfectly, he will learn it by hearing it day by day.

13. Therefore on the Saturday when by the grace of God you will keep the Vigil, you will have to repeat not the Prayer, but the Creed. For if you do not know the Creed now, you will not hear that every day in the Church, and among the people. But when you have learned it, that you may not forget it, say it every day when you rise; when you are preparing for sleep, rehearse your Creed, to the Lord rehearse it, remind yourselves of it, and be not weary of repeating it. For repetition is useful, lest forgetfulness steal over you. Do not say, I said it yesterday, I have said it today, I say it every day, I know it perfectly well. Call your faith to mind, look into yourself, let your Creed be as it were a mirror to you. Therein see yourself, whether you believe all which you profess to believe, and so rejoice day by day in your faith. Let it be your wealth, let it be in a sort the daily clothing of your soul. Do you not always dress yourself when you rise. So by the daily repetition of your Creed dress your soul, lest haply forgetfulness make it bare, and you remain naked, and that take place which the Apostle says, (may it be far from you!) If so be that being unclothed, we shall not be found naked. For we shall be clothed by our faith: and this faith is at once a garment and a breastplate; a garment against shame, a breastplate against adversity. But when we shall have arrived at that place where we shall reign, no need will there be to say the Creed. We shall see God; God Himself will be our vision; the vision of God will be the reward of our present faith.

Sermon 9 on the New Testament

[LIX. Ben.]

Again, on the Lord's Prayer, Matt. vi . To the Competentes.

1. You have rehearsed what you believe, hear now what you are to pray for. Forasmuch as you would not be able to call on Him, in whom you should not first have believed; as says the Apostle, How shall they call on Him, in whom they have not believed? Therefore have you first learned the Creed, where is a brief and sublime rule of your faith; brief in the number of its words, sublime in the weight of its contents. But the prayer which you receive today to be learned by heart, and to be repeated eight days hence, was dictated (as you heard when the Gospel was being read) by the Lord Himself to His disciples, and came from them unto us, since their sound went into all the earth.

2. You then who have found a Father in heaven, be loth to cleave to the things of earth. For you are about to say, Our Father, which art in heaven. You have begun to belong to a great family. Under this Father the lord and the slave are brethren; under this Father the general and the common soldier are brethren; under this Father the rich man and the poor are brethren. All Christian believers have various fathers in earth, some noble, some obscure; but they all call upon one Father which is in heaven. If our Father be there, there is the inheritance prepared for us. But He is such a Father, that we can possess with Him what He gives. For He gives an inheritance; but He does not leave it to us by dying. For He does not depart Himself, but He abides ever, that we may come to Him. Seeing then we have heard of Whom we are to ask, let us know also what to ask for, lest haply we offend such a Father by asking amiss.

3. What then has the Lord Jesus Christ taught us to ask of the Father which is in heaven? Hallowed be Your Name. What kind of blessing is this that we ask of God, that His Name may be hallowed? The Name of God is always Holy; why then do we pray that it may be hallowed, except that we may be hallowed by it? We pray then that that which is Holy always, may be hallowed in us. The Name of God is hallowed in you when you are baptized. Why will you offer this prayer after you have been baptized, but that that which you shall then receive may abide ever in you?

4. Another petition follows, Your kingdom come. God's kingdom will come, whether we ask it or not. Why then do we ask it, but that that which will come to all saints may also come to us; that God may count us also in the number of His saints, to whom His kingdom is to come?

5. We say in the third petition, Your will be done as in heaven, so in earth. What is this? That as the Angels serve You in heaven, so we may serve You in earth. For His holy Angels obey Him; they do not offend Him; they do His commands through the love of Him. This we pray for then, that we too may do the commands of God in love. Again, these words are understood in another way, Your will be done as in heaven, so in earth. Heaven in us is the soul, earth in us is the body. What then is, Your will be done as in heaven, so in earth? As we hear Your precepts, so may our flesh consent unto us; lest, while flesh and spirit strive together, we be not able to fulfil the commands of God.

6. Give us this day our daily bread, comes next in the Prayer. Whether we ask here of the Father support necessary for the body, by bread signifying whatever is needful for us; or whether we understand that daily Bread, which you are soon to receive from the Altar; well it is that we pray that He would give it us. For what is it we pray for, but that we may commit no evil, for which we should be separated from that holy Bread. And the word of God which is preached daily is daily bread. For because it is not bread for the body, it is not on that account not bread for the soul. But when this life shall have passed away, we shall neither seek that bread which hunger seeks; nor shall we have to receive the Sacrament of the Altar, because we shall be there with Christ, whose Body we do now receive; nor will those words which we are now speaking, need to be said to you, nor the sacred volume to be read, when we shall see Him who is Himself the Word of God, by whom all things were made, by whom the Angels are fed, by whom the Angels are enlightened, by whom the Angels become wise; not requiring words of circuitous discourse; but drinking in the Only Word, filled with whom they burst forth and never fail in praise. For, Blessed, says the Psalm, are they who dwell in Your house; they will be always praising You.

7. Therefore in this present life, do we ask what comes next, Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. In Baptism, all debts, that is, all sins, are entirely forgiven us. But because no one can live without sin here below, and if without any great crime which entails separation from the Altar, yet altogether without sins can no one live on this earth, and we can only receive the one Baptism once for all; in this Prayer we hear how we may day by day be washed, that our sins may day by day be forgiven us; but only if we do what follows, As we also forgive our debtors. Accordingly, my Brethren, I advise you, who are in the grace of God my sons, yet my Brethren under that heavenly Father; I advise you, whenever any one offends and sins against you, and comes, and confesses, and asks your pardon, that you do pardon him, and immediately from the heart forgive him; lest ye keep off from your own selves that pardon, which comes from God. For if you forgive not, neither will He forgive you. Therefore it is in this life that we make this petition, for that it is in this life that sins can be forgiven, where they can be done. But in the life to come they are not forgiven, because they are not done.

8. Next after this we pray, saying, Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. This also, that we be not led into temptation, it is necessary for us to ask in this life, because in this life there are temptations; and that we may be delivered from evil, because there is evil here. And thus of all these seven petitions, three have respect to the life eternal, and four to the present life. Hallowed be Your name. This will be forever. Your kingdom come. This kingdom will be forever. Your will be done as in heaven, so in earth. This will be forever. Give us this day our daily bread. This will not be forever. Forgive us our debts. This will not be forever. Lead us not into temptation. This will not be forever. But deliver us from evil. This will not be for ever: but where there is temptation, and where there is evil, there is it necessary that we make this petition.

Sermon 10 on the New Testament

[LX. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 6:19 , Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, etc. An exhortation to almsdeeds.

1. Every man who is in any trouble, and his own resources fail him, looks out for some prudent person from whom he may take counsel, and so know what to do. Let us suppose then the whole world to be as it were one single man. He seeks to escape evil, yet is slow in doing good; and as in this way tribulations thicken, and his own resources fail, whom can he find more prudent to receive counsel from than Christ? By all means, at least, let him find a better, and do what he will. But if he cannot find a better, let him come to Him whom he may find everywhere: let him consult, and take advice from Him, keep the good commandment, escape the great evil. For present temporal ills of which men are so sore afraid, under which they murmur exceedingly, and by their murmuring offend Him who is correcting them, so that they find not His saving Help; present ills I say without a doubt are but passing; either they pass through us, or we pass through them; either they pass away while we live, or they are left behind us when we die. Now that is not in the matter of tribulation great, which in duration is short. Whosoever you are that art thinking of tomorrow, you do not recall the remembrance of yesterday. When the day after tomorrow comes, this tomorrow also will be yesterday. But now if men are so disquieted with anxiety to escape temporal tribulations which pass, or rather fly over, what thought ought they to take that they may escape those which abide and endure without end?

2. A hard condition is the life of man. What else is it to be born, but to enter on a life of toil? Of our toil that is to be, the infant's very cry is witness. From this cup of sorrow no one may be excused. The cup that Adam has pledged, must be drunk. We were made, it is true, by the hands of Truth, but because of sin we were cast forth upon days of vanity. We were made after the image of God, but we disfigured it by sinful transgression. Therefore does the Psalm remind us how we were made, and to what a state we have come. For it says, Though a man walk in the image of God. See, what he was made. Whither has he come? Hearken to what follows, Yet will he be disquieted in vain. He walks in the image of truth, and will be disquieted in the counsel of vanity. Finally, see his disquiet, see it, and as it were in a glass, be displeased with yourself. Though, he says, man walk in the image of God, and therefore be something great, yet will he be disquieted in vain; and as though we might ask, How I pray you, how is man disquieted in vain? He heaps up treasure, says he, and knows not for whom he does gather it. See then, this man, that is the whole human race represented as one man, who is without resource in his own case, and has lost counsel and wandered out of the way of a sound mind; Heaps up treasure, and knows not for whom he does gather it. What is more mad, what more unhappy? But surely he is doing it for himself? Not so. Why not for himself? Because he must die, because the life of man is short, because the treasure lasts, but he who gathers it, quickly passes away. As pitying therefore the man who walks in the image of God, who confesses things that are true, yet follows after vain things, he says, He will be disquieted in vain. I grieve for him; he heaps up treasure, and knows not for whom he does gather it. Does he gather it for himself? No. Because the man dies while the treasure endures. For whom then? If you have any good counsel, give it to me. But counsel have you none to give me, and so you have none for yourself. Wherefore if we are both without it, let us both seek it, let us both receive it, and both consider the matter together. He is disquieted, he heaps up treasure, he thinks, and toils, and is kept awake by anxiety. All day long are you harassed by labour, all night agitated by fear. That your coffer may be filled with money, your soul is in a fever of anxiety.

3. I see it, I am grieved for you; you are disquieted, and as He who cannot deceive, assures us, You are disquieted in vain. For you are heaping up treasures: supposing that all your undertakings succeed, to say nothing of losses, of so great perils and deaths in the prosecution of every several kind of gain (I speak not of deaths of the body, but of evil thoughts, for that gold may come in, uprightness goes out; that you may be clothed outwardly, you are made naked within), but to pass over these, and other such things in silence, to pass by all the things that are against you, let us think only of the favourable circumstances. See, you are laying up treasures, gains flow into you from every quarter, and your money runs like fountains; everywhere where want presses, there does abundance flow. Have you not heard, If riches increase, set not your heart upon them? Lo, you are getting, you are disquieted, not fruitlessly indeed, still in vain. How, you will ask am I disquieted in vain? I am filling my coffers, my walls will scarce hold what I get, how then am I disquieted in vain? You are heaping up treasure, and dost not know for whom you gather it. Or if you know, I pray you tell me. I will listen to you. For whom is it? If you are not disquieted in vain, tell me for whom you are heaping up your treasure? For myself, you say, Do you dare say so, who must so soon die? For my children. Do you dare say this of them who must so soon die? It is a great duty of natural affection (it will be said) for a father to lay up for his sons; rather it is a great vanity, one who must soon die is laying up for those who must soon die also. If it is for yourself, why do you gather, seeing you leave all when you diest. This is the case also with your children; they will succeed you, but not to abide long. I say nothing about what sort of children they may be, whether haply debauchery may not waste what covetousness has amassed. So another by dissoluteness squanders what you by much toil hast gathered together. But I pass over this. It may be they will be good children, they will not be dissolute, they will keep what you have left, will increase what you have kept, and will not dissipate what you have heaped together. Then will your children be equally vain with yourself, if they do so, if in this they imitate you their father. I would say to them what I said just now to you. I would say to your son, to him for whom you are saving I would say, You are heaping up treasure, and know not for whom you gather it. For as you knew not, so neither does he know. If the vanity has continued in him, has the truth lost its power with respect to him?

4. I forbear to urge, that it may be even during your life you are but laying up for thieves. In one night may they come and find all ready the gathering of so many days and nights. It may be you are laying up for a robber, or a highwayman. I will say no more on this, lest I call to mind and re-open the wound of past sufferings. How many things which an empty vanity has heaped together, has the cruelty of an enemy found ready to its hand. It is not my place to wish for this: but it is the concern of all to fear it. May God avert it! May His own scourges be sufficient. May He to whom we pray, spare us! But if He ask you for whom are we laying by, what shall we answer? How then, O man, whosoever you are, that are heaping up treasure in vain, how will you answer me, as I handle this matter with you, and with you seek counsel in a common cause? For you spoke and make answer, I am laying up for myself, for my children, for my posterity. I have said already how many grounds of fear there are, even as to those children themselves. But I pass over the consideration, that your children may so live as to be a curse to you, and as your enemy would wish them; grant that they live as the father himself would have them. Yet how many have fallen into those mischances, I have declared, and reminded you of already. You shuddered at them, though you did not amend yourself. For what have you to answer but this, Perhaps it may not be so? Well, I said so too; perhaps I say you are but laying up for the thief, or robber, or highwayman. I did not say certainly, but perhaps. Where there is a perhaps, there is a perhaps-not; so then you know not what will be, and therefore you are disquieted in vain. You see now how truly spoke the Truth, how vainly vanity is disquieted. You have heard and at length learned wisdom, because when you say, Perhaps it is for my children, but dost not dare to say, I am sure that it is for my children, you do not in fact know for whom you are gathering riches. So then, as I see, and have said already, you are yourself without resource; you find nothing wherewith to answer me, nor can I to answer you.

5. Let us both therefore seek and ask for counsel. We have opportunity of consulting not any wise man, but Wisdom Herself. Let us then both give ear to Jesus Christ, to the Jews a stumbling stone, and to the Gentiles foolishness, but to them who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God. Why are you preparing a strong defense for your riches? Hear the Power of God, nothing is more strong than He. Why are you preparing wise counsel to protect your riches? Hear the Wisdom of God, nothing is more Wise than He. Peradventure when I say what I have to say, you will be offended, and so you will be a Jew, because to the Jews is Christ an offense. Or perhaps, when I have spoken, it will appear foolish to you, and so will you be a Gentile, for to the Gentiles is Christ foolishness. Yet you are a Christian, you have been called. But to them who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the Power of God and the Wisdom of God. Be not sad then when I have said what I have to say; be not offended; mock not my folly, as you deem it, with an air of disdain. Let us give ear. For what I am about to say, Christ has said. If you despise the herald, yet fear the Judge. What shall I say then? The reader of the Gospel has but just now relieved me from this embarrassment. I will not read anything fresh, but will recall only to your recollection what has just been read. You were seeking counsel, as failing in your own resources; see then what the Fountain of right counsel says, the Fountain from whose streams is no fear of poison, fill from It what you may.

6. Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust does destroy, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where no thief approaches, nor moth corrupts: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. What more do you wait for? The thing is plain. The counsel is open, but evil desire lies hid; nay, not so, but what is worse, it too lies open. For plunder does not cease its ravages; avarice does not cease to defraud; maliciousness does not cease to swear falsely. And all for what? That treasure may be heaped together. To be laid up where? In the earth, and rightly indeed, by earth for earth. For to the man who sinned and who pledged us, as I have said, our cup of toil, was it said, Earth you are, and to earth shall you return. With good reason is the treasure in earth, because the heart is there. Where then is that, we lift them up unto the Lord? Sorrow for your case, you who have understood me; and if you sorrow truly, amend yourselves. How long will you be applauding and not doing? What you have heard is true, nothing truer. Let that then which is true be done. One God we praise, yet we change not, that we may not in this very praise be disquieted in vain.

7. Therefore, Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth; whether you have found by experience how what is laid up in the earth is lost, or whether you have not so experienced it, yet do ye too fear lest ye should do so. Let experience reform him whom words will not reform. One cannot rise up now, one cannot go out, but all together with one voice are crying, Woe to us, the world is falling. If it be falling, why do you not remove? If an architect were to tell you, that your house would soon fall, would you not remove before you indulged in your vain lamentations? The Builder of the world tells you the world will soon fall, and will you not believe it? Hear the voice of Him who foretells it, hear the counsel of Him who gives you warning. The voice of prediction is, Heaven and earth shall pass away. The voice of warning is, Lay not up for yourselves treasure on earth. If then you believe God in His prediction; if you despise not His warning, let what He says be done. He who has given you such counsel does not deceive you. You shall not lose what you have given away, but shall follow what you have only sent before you. Therefore my counsel is, Give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven. You shall not remain without treasure; but what you have on earth with anxiety, you shall possess in heaven free from care. Transport your goods then. I am giving you counsel for keeping, not for losing. You shall have, says He, treasure in heaven, and come, follow Me, that I may bring you to your treasure. This is not a wasting, but a saving. Why do men keep silence? Let them hear, and having at last by experience found what to fear, let them do that which will give them no cause of fear, let them transport their goods to heaven. You put wheat in the low ground; and your friend comes, who knows the nature of the grain and the land, and instructs your unskilfulness, and says to you, What have you done? You have put the grain in the flat soil, in the lower land; the soil is moist; it will all rot, and you will lose your labour. You answer, What then must I do? Remove it, he says, into the higher ground. Do you then give ear to a friend who gives you counsel about your grain, and do you despise God who gives you counsel about your heart? Thou fearest to put your grain in the low earth, and will you lose your heart in the earth? Behold the Lord your God when He gives you counsel touching your heart, says, Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Lift up, says He, your heart to heaven, that it rot not in the earth. It is His counsel, who wishes to preserve your heart, not to destroy it.

8. If then this be so, what must be their repentance who have not done thereafter? How must they now reproach themselves! We might have had in heaven what we have now lost in earth. The enemy has broken up our house; but could he break heaven open? He has killed the servant who was set to guard; but could he kill the Lord who would have kept them, where no thief approaches, neither moth corrupts. How many now are saying, There we might have had, and hid our treasures safe, where after a little while we might have followed them securely. Why have we not hearkened to our Lord? Why have we despised the admonitions of the Father, and so have experienced the invasion of the enemy? If then this be good counsel, let us not be slow in taking heed to it; and if what we have must be transported, let us transfer it into that place, from whence we cannot lose it. What are the poor to whom we give, but our carriers, by whom we convey our goods from earth to heaven? Give then: you are but giving to your carrier, he carries what you give to heaven. How, do you say, does he carry it to heaven? For I see that he makes an end of it by eating. No doubt, he carries it, not by keeping it, but by making it his food. What? Have you forgotten, Come, you blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom; for I was an hungred, and you gave Me meat: and, Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of Mine, you did it to Me. If you have not despised the beggar that stands before you, consider to Whom what you gave him has come. Inasmuch, says he, as you did it to one of the least of Mine, you did it to Me. He has received it, who gave you wherewith to give. He has received it, who in the end will give His Own Self to you.

9. For this have I at various times called to your remembrance, Beloved, and I confess to you it astonishes me much in the Scriptures of God, and I ought repeatedly to call your attention to it. I pray you to think of what our Lord Jesus Christ Himself says, that at the end of the world, when He shall come to judgment, He will gather together all nations before Him, and will divide men into two parts; that He will place some at His right hand, and others on His left; and will say to those on the right hand, Come, you blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. But to those on the left, Depart ye into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Search out the reasons either for so great a reward, or so great a punishment. Receive the kingdom, and Go into everlasting fire. Why shall the first receive the kingdom? For I was an hungred, and you gave Me meat. Why shall the other depart into everlasting fire? For I was hungry, and you gave Me no meat. What means this, I ask? I see touching those who are to receive the kingdom, that they gave as good and faithful Christians, not despising the words of the Lord, and with sure trust hoping for the promises they did accordingly; because had they not done so, this very barrenness would not surely have accorded with their good life. For it may be they were chaste, no cheats, nor drunkards, and kept themselves from evil works. Yet if they had not added good works, they would have remained barren. For they would have kept, Depart from evil, but they would not have kept, and do good. Notwithstanding, even to them He does not say, Come, receive the kingdom, for you have lived in chastity; you have defrauded no man, you have not oppressed any poor man, you have invaded no one's landmark, you have deceived no one by oath. He said not this, but, Receive the kingdom, because I was an hungred, and you gave Me meat. How excellent is this above all, when the Lord made no mention of the rest, but named this only! And again to the others, Depart ye into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. How many things could He urge against the ungodly, were they to ask, Why are we going into everlasting fire! Why? Do ye ask, you adulterers, menslayers, cheats, sacrilegious blasphemers, unbelievers. Yet none of these did He name, but, Because I was hungry, and you gave Me no meat.

10. I see that you are surprised as I am. And indeed it is a marvellous thing. But I gather as best I can the reason of this thing so strange, and I will not conceal it from you. It is written, As water quenches fire, so alms quenches sin. Again it is written, Shut up alms in the heart of a poor man, and it shall make supplication for you before the Lord. Again it is written, Hear, O king, my counsel, and redeem your sins by alms. And many other testimonies of the Divine oracles are there, whereby it is shown that alms avail much to the quenching and effacing of sins. Wherefore to those whom He is about to condemn, yea, rather to those whom He is about to crown, He will impute alms only, as though He would say, It were a hard matter for me not to find occasion to condemn you, were I to examine and weigh you accurately and with much exactness to scrutinize your deeds; but, Go into the kingdom, for I was hungry, and you gave Me meat. You shall therefore go into the kingdom, not because you have not sinned, but because you have redeemed your sins by alms. And again to the others, Go into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. They too, guilty as they are, old in their sins, late in their fear for them, in what respect, when they turn their sins over in their mind, could they dare to say that they are undeservedly condemned, that this sentence is pronounced against them undeservedly by so righteous a Judge? In considering their consciences, and all the wounds of their souls, in what respect could they dare to say, We are unjustly condemned. Of whom it was said before in Wisdom, Their own iniquities shall convince them to their face. Without doubt they will see that they are justly condemned for their sins and wickednesses; yet it will be as though He said to them, It is not in consequence of this that you think, but 'because I was hungry, and you gave Me no meat.' For if turning away from all these your deeds, and turning to Me, you had redeemed all those crimes and sins by alms, those alms would now deliver you, and absolve you from the guilt of so great offenses; for, Blessed are the merciful, for to them shall be shown mercy. But now go away into everlasting fire. He shall have judgment without mercy, who has showed no mercy.

11. O that I may have induced you, my brethren, to give away your earthly bread, and to knock for the heavenly! The Lord is that Bread. He says, I am the Bread of life. But how shall He give to you, who givest not to him that is in need? One is in need before you, and you are in need before Another, and since you are in need before Another, and another is in need before you, that other is in need before him who is in need himself. For He before whom you are in need, needs nothing. Do then to others as you would have done to you. For it is not in this case as with those friends who are wont to upbraid in a way one another with their kindnesses; as, I did this for you, and the other answers, and I this for you, that He wishes us to do Him some good office, because He has first done such an office for us. He is in want of nothing, and therefore is He the very Lord. I said to the Lord, You are my God, for Thou needest not my goods. Notwithstanding though He be the Lord, and the Very Lord, and needs not our goods, yet that we might do something even for Him, has He vouchsafed to be hungry in His poor. I was hungry, says He, and you gave Me meat. Lord, when saw we You hungry? Forasmuch as you did it to one of the least of Mine, you did it to Me. To be brief then, let men hear, and consider as they ought, how great a merit it is to have fed Christ when He hungers, and how great a crime it is to have despised Christ when He hungers.

12. Repentance for sins changes men, it is true, for the better; but it does not appear as if even it would profit ought, if it should be barren of works of mercy. This the Truth testifies by the mouth of John, who said to them that came to him, O generation of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance; And say not we have Abraham to our father; for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. For now is the axe laid unto the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that brings not forth good fruit shall be cut down, and cast into the fire. Touching this fruit he said above, Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance. Whoever then brings not forth these fruits, has no cause to think that he shall attain pardon for his sins by a barren repentance. Now what these fruits are, he shows afterwards himself. For after these his words the multitude asked him, saying, What shall we do then? That is, what are these fruits, which you exhort us with such alarming force to bring forth? But he answering said to them, he that has two coats, let him give to him that has none; and he that has meat, let him do likewise. My brethren, what is more plain, what more certain, or express than this? What other meaning then can that have which he said above, Every tree that brings not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and cast into the fire; but that same which they on the left shall hear, Go into everlasting fire, for I was hungry, and you gave Me no meat. So then it is but a small matter to depart from sins, if you shall neglect to cure what is past, as it is written, Son, you have sinned, do so no more. And that he might not think to be secure by this only, he says, And for your former sins pray that they may be forgiven you. But what will it profit you to pray for forgiveness, if you shall not make yourself fit to be heard, by not bringing forth fruits fit for repentance, that you should be cut down as a barren tree, and be cast into the fire? So if you want to be heard when you pray for pardon of your sins, Forgive, and it shall be forgiven you; Give, and it shall be given you.

Sermon 11 on the New Testament

[LXI. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 7:7 , Ask, and it shall be given you; etc. An exhortation to almsdeeds.

1. In the lesson of the Holy Gospel the Lord has exhorted us to prayer. Ask, says He, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asks receives, and he that seeks finds, and to him that knocks it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? Or if he ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, says He, though ye be evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him? Though you be evil, He says, ye know how to give good gifts unto your children. A marvellous thing, Brethren! We are evil: yet have we a good Father. What is more evident? We have heard our proper name: Though you be evil, you know how to give good gifts unto your children. And now see what kind of Father He shows them, whom he called evil. How much more shall your Father? Father of whom? Undoubtedly of the evil. And what kind of Father? None is good but God only.

2. For this cause have we who are evil a good Father, that we may not always continue evil. No evil man can make another man good. If no evil man can make another good, how can an evil man make himself good? He only can make of an evil man a good man, who is good eternally. Heal me, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved. Why then do those vain ones say to me in words vain as themselves, You can save yourself if you will? Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed. We were created good by The Good; for God made man upright, but by our own free will, we became evil. We had power from being good to become evil, and we shall have power from being evil to become good. But it is He who is ever Good, who makes the good out of the evil; for man by his own will had no power to heal himself. Thou dost not look out for a physician to wound yourself; but when you have wounded yourself, you look out for one to cure you. Good things then after the time present, temporal good things, such as are concerned with the body and flesh, we do know how to give to our children, even though we are evil. For even these are good things, who would doubt it? A fish, an egg, bread, fruit, wheat, the light we see, the air we breathe, all these are good; the very riches by which men are lifted up, and which make them loth to acknowledge other men to be their equals; by which, I say, men are lifted up rather in love of their dazzling clothing, than with any thought of their common nature, even these riches, I repeat, are good; but all these goods which I have now mentioned may be possessed by good and bad alike; and though they be good themselves, yet cannot they make their owners good.

3. A good then there is which makes good, and a good there is whereby you may do good. The Good which makes good is God. For none can make man good, save He who is Good eternally. Therefore that you may be good, call upon God. But there is another good whereby you may do good, and that is, whatever you may possess. There is gold, there is silver; they are good, not such as can make you good, but whereby you may do good. You have gold and silver, and you desire more gold and silver. Thou both hast, and desirest to have; you are at once full, and thirsty. This is a disease, not opulence. When men are in the dropsy, they are full of water, and yet are always thirsty. They are full of water, and yet they thirst for water. How then can you take pleasure in opulence, who hast thereby this dropsical desire? Gold then you have, it is good; yet you have not whereby you can be made good, but whereby you can do good. Do you ask, What good can I do with gold? Have you not heard in the Psalm, He has dispersed abroad, he has given to the poor, his righteousness remains forever. This is good, this is the good whereby you are made good; righteousness. If you have the good whereby you are made good, do good with that good which cannot make you good. You have money, deal it out freely. By dealing it out freely, you increase righteousness. For he has dispersed abroad, has distributed, has given to the poor; his righteousness remains forever. See what is diminished and what increased. Your money is diminished, your righteousness increased. That is diminished which you must soon have lost, that diminished which you must soon have left behind you; that increased which you shall possess forever.

4. It is then a secret of gainful dealing I am giving; learn so to trade. For you commend the merchant who sells lead and gets gold, and will you not commend the merchant, who lays out money, and gets righteousness? But you will say, I do not lay out my money, because I have not righteousness. Let him who has righteousness lay his money out; I have not righteousness, so at least let me have my money. Do you not then wish to lay out your money, because you have not righteousness? Yea, lay it out then rather that you may have righteousness. For from whence shall you have righteousness but from God, the Fountain of righteousness? Therefore, if you will have righteousness, be God's beggar, who just now out of the Gospel urged you to ask, and seek, and knock. He knew His beggar, and lo the Householder, the mighty rich One, rich, to wit, in riches spiritual and eternal, exhorts you and says, Ask, seek, knock; he that asks receives, he that seeks finds, to him that knocks it shall be opened. He exhorts you to ask, and will he refuse you what you ask?

5. Consider a similitude or comparison drawn from a contrary case (as of that unjust judge), which is an encouragement to us to prayer. There was, says the Lord, in a city a certain judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man. A certain widow importuned him daily, and said, Avenge me. He would not for a long time; but she ceased not to petition, and he did through her importunity what he would not of his own good will. For thus by a contrary case has He recommended us to pray.

6. Again, He says, A certain man to whom some had come, went to his friend, and began to knock and say, A has come to me, lend me three loaves. He answered, I am already in bed, and my servants with me. The other does not leave off, but stands and presses his case, and knocks and begs as one friend of another. And what says He? I say unto you that he rises, and not because of his friendship, but because of the other's importunity he gives him as many as he wanted. Not because of his friendship, though he is his friend, but because of his importunity. What is the meaning of because of his importunity? Because he did not leave off knocking; because even when his request was refused, he did not turn away. He who was not willing to give, gave what was asked, because the other fainted not in asking. How much more then shall that Good One give who exhorts us to ask, who is displeased if we ask not? But when at times He gives somewhat slowly, it is that He is showing us the value of His good things; not that He refuses them. Things which have been long desired, are obtained with the greater pleasure, whereas those which are given quickly, are held cheap. Ask then, seek, be instant. By the very asking and seeking you grow so as to contain the more. God is keeping in reserve for you, what it is not His will to give you quickly, that you may learn for great things to long with great desire. Therefore ought we always to pray, and not to faint.

7. If then God has made us His beggars by admonishing, and exhorting, and commanding us to ask, and seek, and knock, let us for our part pay regard to those who ask from us. We ask, and from whom do we ask? Who are we that ask? What do we ask? From whom, or who are we, or what is it that we ask? We ask of the Good God; and we that ask are evil men; but we ask for righteousness, whereby we may be good. We ask then for that which we may have for ever, wherewith when we shall be filled, we shall want no more. But in order that we may be filled, let us hunger and thirst; hungering and thirsting, let us ask, and seek, and knock. For blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Wherefore are they blessed? They do hunger and thirst, and are they blessed? Is want ever a blessing? They are not blessed in that they hunger and thirst, but in that they will be filled. There will there be blessedness, in the fullness, not in the hunger. But hunger must go before the fullness, that no loathing attach to the bread.

8. We have said then, from whom it is that we ask, and who we are that ask, and what we ask. But we also are asked ourselves. For we are God's mendicants; that He may acknowledge His mendicants, let us on our part acknowledge ours. But let us think in this case again, when anything is asked of us, who they are that ask, from whom they ask, and what they ask? Who then are they that ask? Men. From whom do they ask? From men. Who are they that ask? Mortals. From whom? From mortals. Who are they that ask? Frail beings. From whom? From frail beings. Who are they that ask? Wretches. And from whom? From wretches. Excepting in the matter of wealth, they that ask are as they of whom they ask. With what face can you ask before your lord, who dost not acknowledge your own equal? I am not, he will say, as he is, far be it from me to be such as he. It is thus that one clad in silk, and puffed up with pride, speaks of one who is wrapped in rags. But I ask you when you both are stripped. I ask you not as you are now when clothed, but as you were when you were first born. Both were naked, both weak, beginning a life of misery, and therefore beginning it with cries.

9. See then, recall, O rich man, to mind your first beginnings; see whether you brought anything into the world. Now you have come indeed, and hast found so great abundance. But tell me, I pray you, what did you bring hither? Tell me, or if you are ashamed to say, hear the Apostle. We brought nothing into this world. He says, We brought nothing into this world. But perhaps because you brought in nothing, but yet hast found much here, you will take away something hence? This too, perhaps through love of riches, you are afraid to confess. Hear this also, and let the Apostle who will not flatter, tell you. We brought nothing into this world, to wit when we were born; neither can we carry anything out, to wit when we shall depart out of the world. You brought in nothing, and you shall carry nothing away. Why then do you puff up yourself against the poor man? When infants first are born, let only the parents, servants, dependants, and the crowds of obsequious attendants, get out of the way; and then let the wealthy children with their cries be recognised. Let the rich woman and the poor give birth together; let them take no notice of their children, let them go away for a little while; then let them return, and recognise them if they can. See then, O rich man, you brought nothing into this world; neither can you carry anything out. What I have said of them at their birth, I may say of them in death. If it be not so, when by any chance old sepulchres are broken up, let the bones of the rich be recognised if they can. Therefore, you rich man, give ear to the Apostle, We brought nothing into this world. Acknowledge it, true it is. Neither can we carry anything out. Acknowledge it, this is true also.

10. What follows then? Having food and covering, let us be therewith content; for they who wish to be rich fall into temptation, and many and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For avarice is the root of all evil, which some following after, have erred from the faith. Now consider what they have abandoned. Grieved you are that they have abandoned this, but see now in what they have entangled themselves. Hear; They have erred from the faith, and entangled themselves in many sorrows. But who? They who wish to be rich. It is one thing to be rich, another to wish to become rich. He is rich, who is born of rich parents, and he is rich not because he wished it, but because many left him their inheritances. His wealth I see, I make no question as to the pleasure he takes in it. In this Scripture it is covetousness that is condemned, not gold, or silver, or riches, but covetousness. For they who do not wish to become rich, or do not care about it, who do not burn with covetous desires, nor are inflamed by the fires of avarice, but who yet are rich, let them hear the Apostle (it has been read today), Charge them that are rich in this world. Charge them what? Charge them before all things, not to be proud in their conceits, for there is nothing which riches do so much generate as pride. Each several fruit, each several grain of grain, each several tree, has its peculiar worm, and the worm of the apple is of one kind, and of the pear another, and of the bean another, and of the wheat another. The worm of riches is pride.

11. Charge therefore the rich of this world that they be not proud in their conceits. He has shut out the abuse, let him teach now the proper use. That they be not proud in their conceits. But whence comes the defense against pride? From that which follows: Nor trust in the uncertainty of riches. They who trust not in the uncertainty of riches, are not proud in their conceits. If they be not proud in their conceits, let them fear. If they fear, they are not proud in their conceits. How many are they who were rich yesterday, and are poor today? How many go to sleep rich, and through robbers coming and taking all away, wake up poor? Therefore charge them not to trust in the uncertainty of riches, but in the Living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy, things temporal, and things eternal. But things eternal more for enjoyment, the things temporal for use. Things temporal as for travellers, things eternal as for inhabitants. Things temporal, whereby we may do good; things eternal, whereby we may be made good. Therefore let the rich do this, Let them not be proud in their conceits, nor trust in the uncertainty of riches, but in the Living God, who gives us all things richly to enjoy. Let them do this. But what can they do with what they have? Hear what. Let them be rich in good works, let them easily distribute. For they have wherewithal. Why then do they not do it? Poverty is a hard estate. But they may give easily, for they have the means. Let them communicate, that is, let them acknowledge their fellow-mortals as their equals. Let them communicate, let them lay up for themselves a good foundation against the time to come. For, says he, when I say, Let them distribute easily, let them communicate, I have no wish to spoil, or strip them, or leave them empty. It is a painful lesson I teach; I show them a place to put their goods, let them lay up in store for themselves. For I have no wish that they should remain in poverty. Let them lay up for themselves in store. I do not bid them lose their goods, but I show them whither to remove them. Let them lay up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may hold on the true life. The present then is a false life; let them lay hold on the true life. For it is vanity of vanities, and all is vanity. What so great abundance has man in all his labour, wherewith he labours under the sun? Therefore the true life must be laid hold upon, our riches must be removed to the place of the true life, that we may find there what we give here. He makes this exchange of our goods who also changes ourselves.

12. Give then, my brethren, to the poor, Having food and covering, let us be therewith content. The rich man has nothing from his riches, but what the poor man begs of him, food and covering. What more have you from all that you possess? You have got food and necessary covering. Necessary I say, not useless, not superfluous. What more do you get from your riches? Tell me. Assuredly all you have more will be superfluous. Let your superfluities then be the poor man's necessaries. But you will say, I get costly banquets, I feed on costly meats. But the poor man, what does he feed on? On cheap food; the poor man feeds on cheap, and I, says he, on costly meats. Well, I ask you, when you both are filled, the costly enters into you, but when it is once entered, what does it become? If we had but looking-glasses within us, should we not be put to shame for all the costly meat whereby you have been filled? The poor man hungers, and so does the rich; the poor man seeks to be filled, so does the rich. The poor man is filled with inexpensive, the rich with costly meats. Both are filled alike, the object whither both wish to attain is one and the same, only the one reaches it by a short, the other by a circuitous way. But you will say, I relish better my costly food. True, and it is hard for you to be satisfied, dainty as you are. You know not the relish of that which hunger seasons. Not that I have said this to force the rich to feed on the meat and drink of the poor. Let the rich use what their infirmity has accustomed them to; but let them be sorry, that they are not able to do otherwise. For it would be better for them if they could. If then the poor man be not puffed up for his poverty, why should you for your infirmity? Use then choice, and costly meats, because you are so accustomed, because you can not do otherwise, because if you change your custom, you are made ill. I grant you this, make use of superfluities, but give to the poor necessaries; make use of costly meats, but give to the poor inexpensive food. He is looking to receive from you, and you are looking to receive from God; he is looking to the hand which was made as he was, and you are looking to the hand that made you, and made not you only, but the poor man with you. He set you both one and the same journey, this present life: you have found yourselves companions in it, you are walking one way: he is carrying nothing, you are loaded excessively: he is carrying nothing with him, you are carrying with you more than you need. You are loaded: give him of that you have; so shall you at once feed him, and lessen your own burden.

13. Give then to the poor; I beg, I advise, I charge, I command you. Give to the poor whatever you will. For I will not conceal from you, Beloved, why it is that I have deemed it necessary to deliver this discourse to you. As I am going to and from the Church, the poor importune me, and beg me to speak to you, that they may receive something of you. They have urged me to speak to you; and when they see that they receive nothing from you, they suppose that all my labour among you is in vain. Something also they expect from me. I give them all I can; but have I the means sufficient to supply all their necessities? Forasmuch then as I have not means sufficient to supply all their necessity, I am at least their ambassador to you. You have heard and applauded; God be thanked. You have received the seed, you have returned an answer. But these your commendations weigh me down rather, and expose me to danger. I bear them, and tremble while I bear them. Nevertheless, my brethren, these your commendations are but the tree's leaves; it is the fruit I am in quest of.

Sermon 12 on the New Testament

[LXII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 8:8 , I am not worthy that you should come under my roof, etc., and of the words of the apostle, 1 Corinthians 8:10 , For if a man see you who hast knowledge sitting at meat in an idol's temple, etc.

1. We have heard, as the Gospel was being read, the praise of our faith as manifested in humility. For when the Lord Jesus promised that He would go to the Centurion's house to heal His servant, He answered, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof: but speak the word only, and he shall be healed. By calling himself unworthy, he showed himself worthy for Christ to come not into his house, but into his heart. Nor would he have said this with so great faith and humility, had he not borne Him in his heart, of whose coming into his house he was afraid. For it were no great happiness for the Lord Jesus to enter into his house, and yet not to be in his heart. For this Master of humility both by word and example, sat down even in the house of a certain proud Pharisee, by name Simon; and though He sat down in his house, there was no place in this heart, where the Son of Man could lay His Head.

2. For so, as we may understand from the words of the Lord Himself, did He call back from His discipleship a certain proud man, who of his own accord was desirous to go with Him. Lord, I will follow You wherever You go. And the Lord seeing in his heart what was invisible, said, Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has not where to lay His Head. That is, in you, guile like the fox does dwell, and pride as the birds of heaven. But the Son of Man simple as opposed to guile, lowly as opposed to pride, has not where to lay His Head; and this very laying, not the raising up of the head, teaches humility. Therefore does He call back this one who was desirous to go, and another who refused He draws onward. For in the same place He says to a certain man, Follow Me. And he said, I will follow You, Lord, but let me first go and bury my father. His excuse was indeed a dutiful one: and therefore was he the more worthy to have his excuse removed, and his calling confirmed. What he wished to do was an act of dutifulness; but the Master taught him what he ought to prefer. For He wished him to be a preacher of the living word, to make others live. But there were others by whom that first necessary office might be fulfilled. Let the dead, He says, bury their dead. When unbelievers bury a dead body, the dead bury the dead. The body of the one has lost its soul, the soul of the others has lost God. For as the soul is the life of the body; so is God the life of the soul. As the body expires when it loses the soul, so does the soul expire when it loses God. The loss of God is the death of the soul: the loss of the soul the death of the body. The death of the body is necessary; the death of the soul voluntary.

3. The Lord then sat down in the house of a certain proud Pharisee. He was in his house, as I have said, and was not in his heart. But into this centurion's house He entered not, yet He possessed his heart. Zacchæus again received the Lord both in house and heart. Yet the centurion's faith is praised for its humility. For he said, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof; and the Lord said, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel; according to the flesh, that is. For he too was an Israelite undoubtedly according to the spirit. The Lord had come to fleshly Israel, that is, to the Jews, there to seek first for the lost sheep, among this people, and of this people also He had assumed His Body. I have not found there so great faith, He says. We can but measure the faith of men, as men can judge of it; but He who saw the inward parts, He whom no man can deceive, gave His testimony to this man's heart, hearing words of lowliness, and pronouncing a sentence of healing.

4. But whence did he get such confidence? I also, says he, am a man set under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes: and to my servant, Do this, and he does it. I am an authority to certain who are placed under me, being myself placed under a certain authority above me. If then I a man under authority have the power of commanding, what power must Thou have, whom all powers serve? Now this man was of the Gentiles, for he was a centurion. At that time the Jewish nation had soldiers of the Roman empire among them. There he was engaged in a military life, according to the extent of a centurion's authority, both under authority himself, and having authority over others; as a subject obedient, ruling others who were under him. But the Lord (and mark this especially, Beloved, as need there is you should), though He was among the Jewish people only, even now announced beforehand that the Church should be in the whole world, for the establishment of which He would send Apostles; Himself not seen, yet believed on by the Gentiles: by the Jews seen, and put to death. For as the Lord did not in body enter into this man's house, and still, though in body absent, yet present in majesty, healed his faith, and his house; so the same Lord also was in body among the Jewish people only: among the other nations He was neither born of a Virgin, nor suffered, nor walked, nor endured His human sufferings, nor wrought His divine miracles. None of all this took place in the rest of the nations, and yet was that fulfilled which was spoken of Him, A people whom I have not known, has served Me. And how if it did not know Him? Hath obeyed Me by the hearing of the ear. The Jewish nation knew, and crucified Him; the whole world besides heard and believed.

5. This absence, so to say, of His body, and presence of His power among all nations, He signified also in the instance of that woman who had touched the edge of His garment, when He asks, saying, Who touched Me? He asks, as though He were absent; as though present, He heals. The multitude, say the disciples, press You, and sayest Thou, Who touched Me? For as if He were so walking as not to be touched by anybody at all, He said, Who touched Me? And they answer, The multitude press You. And the Lord would seem to say, I am asking for one who touched, not for one who pressed Me. In this case also is His Body now, that is, His Church. The faith of the few touches it, the throng of the many press it. For you have heard, as being her children, that Christ's Body is the Church, and if you will, you yourselves are so. This the Apostle says in many places, For His body's sake, which is the Church; and again, But you are the body of Christ, and members in particular. If then we are His body, what His body then suffered in the crowd, that does His Church suffer now. It is pressed by many, touched by few. The flesh presses it, faith touches it. Lift up therefore your eyes, I beseech you, you who have wherewithal to see. For you have before you something to see. Lift up the eyes of faith, touch but the extreme border of His garment, it will be sufficient for saving health.

6. See ye how that which you have heard out of the Gospel was at that time to come is now present. Therefore, said He, on occasion of the commendation of the Centurion's faith, as in the flesh an alien, but of the household in heart, Therefore I say unto you, Many shall come from the east and west. Not all, but many; yet they shall come from the East and West; the whole world is denoted by these two parts. Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven; but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness. But the children of the kingdom, the Jews, namely. And how the children of the kingdom? Because they received the Law; to them the Prophets were sent, with them was the temple and the Priesthood; they celebrated the figures of all the things to come. Yet of what things they celebrated the figures, they acknowledged not the presence. And, Therefore the children of the kingdom, He says, shall go into outer darkness, there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. And so we see the Jews reprobate, and Christians called from the East and West, to the heavenly banquet, to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, where the bread is righteousness, and the cup wisdom.

7. Consider then, brethren, for of these are you; you are of this people, even then foretold, and now exhibited. Yes, verily, you are of those who have been called from the East and West, to sit down in the kingdom of heaven, not in the temple of idols. Be then the Body of Christ, not the pressure of His Body. You have the border of His garment to touch, that you may be healed of the issue of blood, that is, of carnal pleasures. You have, I say, the border of the garment to touch. Look upon the Apostles as the garment, by the texture of unity clinging closely to the sides of Christ. Among these Apostles was Paul, as it were the border, the least and last; as he says himself, I am the least of the Apostles. In a garment the last and least thing is the border. The border is in appearance contemptible, yet is it touched with saving efficacy. Even to this hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked and buffeted. What state so low, so contemptible as this! Touch then, if you are suffering from a bloody flux. There will go power out of Him whose garment it is, and it will heal you. The border was proposed to you just now to be touched, when out of the same Apostle there was read, For if any one see him which has knowledge sit at meat in an idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him who is weak, be emboldened to eat things offered to idols? And through your knowledge shall your weak brother perish, for whom Christ died! How think ye may men be deceived by idols, which they suppose are honoured by Christians? A man may say, God knows my heart. Yes, but your brother did not know your heart. If you are weak, beware of a still greater weakness; if you are strong, have a care of your brother's weakness. They who see what you do, are emboldened to do more, so as to desire not only to eat, but also to sacrifice there. And lo, Through your knowledge the weak brother perishes. Hear then, my brother; if you disregarded the weak, would you disregard a brother also? Awake. What if so you sin against Christ Himself? For attend to what you can not by any means disregard. But, says he, when you sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Let them who disregard these words, go now, and sit at meat in the idol's temple; will they not be of those who press, and do not touch? And when they have been at meat in the idol's temple, let them come and fill the Church; not to receive saving health, but to make a pressure there.

8. But you will say, I am afraid lest I offend those above me. By all means be afraid of offending them, and so you will not offend God. For you who are afraid lest you offend those above you, see whether there be not One above him whom you are afraid of offending. By all means then be loth to offend those above you. This is an established rule with you. But then is it not plain, that he must on no account be offended, who is above all others? Run over now the list of those above you. First are your father and mother, if they are educating you aright; if they are bringing you up for Christ; they are to be heard in all things, they must be obeyed in every command; let them enjoin nothing against one above themselves, and so let them be obeyed. And who, you will say, is above him who begot me? He who created you. For man begets, but God creates. How it is that man begets, he does not know; and what he shall beget, he does not know. But He who saw you that He might make you, before that he whom He made existed, is surely above your father. Your country again should be above your very parents; so that whereinsoever your parents enjoin anything against your country, they are not to be listened to. And whatsoever your country enjoin against God, it is not to be listened to. For if you will be healed, if after the issue of blood, if after twelve years' continuance in that disease, if after having spent your all upon physicians, and not having received health, you wish at length to be made whole; O woman, whom I am addressing as a figure of the Church, your father enjoins you this, and your people that. But your Lord says to you, Forget your own people, and your father's house. For what good? For what advantage? With what useful result? Because the King has desired your beauty. He has desired what He made, since when deformed He loved you, that He might make you beautiful. For you unbelieving, and deformed, He shed His Blood, and He made you faithful and beauteous, He has loved His own gifts in you. For what did you bring to your spouse? What did you receive for dowry from your former father, and former people? Was it not the excesses and the rags of sins? Your rags He cast away, your robe impure He tore asunder. He pitied you that He might adorn you. He adorned you, that He might love you.

9. What need of more, Brethren. You are Christians, and have heard, that If you sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Do not disregard it, if you would not be wiped out of the book of life. How long shall I go about to speak in bright and pleasing terms to you, what my grief forces me to speak in some sort, and will not suffer me to keep secret? Whosoever they are who are minded to disregard these things, and sin against Christ, let them only consider what they are doing. We wish the rest of the Heathen to be gathered in; and you are stones in their way: they have a wish to come; they stumble, and so return. For they say in their hearts, Why should we leave the gods whom the very Christians worship as we do? God forbid, you will say, that I should worship the gods of the Gentiles. I know, I understand, I believe you. But what account are you making of the consciences of the weak which you are wounding? What account are you making of their price, if you disregard the purchase? Consider for how great a price was the purchase made. Through your knowledge, says the Apostle, shall the weak brother perish; that knowledge which you profess to have, in that you know that an idol is nothing, and that in your mind you are thinking only of God, and so sittest down in the idol's temple. In this knowledge the weak brother perishes. And lest you should pay no regard to the weak brother, he added, for whom Christ died. If you would disregard him, yet consider his Price, and weigh the whole world in the balance with the Blood of Christ. And lest you should still think that you are sinning against a weak brother, and so esteem it after that he had heard that he was Peter, a trivial fault, and of small account, he says, You sin against Christ. For men are in the habit of saying, I sin against man; am I sinning against God? Deny then that Christ is God. Do you dare deny that Christ is God? Have you learned this other doctrine, when you sat at meat in the idol's temple? The school of Christ does not admit that doctrine. I ask; Where did you learn that Christ is not God? The Pagans are wont to say so. Do you see what bad associations do? Do you see, that evil communications corrupt good manners? There you can not speak of the Gospel, and you hear others talking of idols. There you lose the truth that Christ is God; and what you drink in there, you vomit out in the Church. It may be you are bold enough to speak here; bold enough to mutter among the crowds; Was not then Christ a man? Was He not crucified? This have you learned of the Pagans. You have lost your soul's health, you have not touched the border. On this point then touch again the border, and receive health. As I taught you to touch it in this that is written, Whoever sees a brother sit at meat in the idol's temple; touch it also concerning the Divinity of Christ. The same border said of the Jews, Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever. Behold, against Whom, even the Very God, you sin, when you sit down with false gods.

10. It is no god, you will say; because it is the tutelary genius of Carthage. As though if it were Mars or Mercury, it would be a god. But consider in what light it is esteemed by them; not what it is in itself. For I know also as well as you, that it is but a stone. If this genius be any ornament, let the citizens of Carthage live well; and they themselves will be this genius of Carthage. But if the genius be a devil, you have heard in that same Scripture, The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God; and I would not that you should have fellowship with devils. We know well that it is no God; would that they knew it too! But because of those weak ones who do not know it, their conscience ought not to be wounded. It is this that the Apostle warns us of. For that they regard that statue as something divine, and take it for a god, the altar is witness. What does the altar there, if it be not accounted a god? Let no one tell me; it is no deity, it is no God. I have said already, Would that they only knew this, as we all do. But how they regard it, for what they take it, and what they do about it, that altar is witness. It is convincing against the intentions of all who worship there, grant that it may not be convincing also against those who sit at meat with them!

11. Yes, let not Christians press the Church, if the Pagans do. She is the Body of Christ. Were we not saying, that the Body of Christ was pressed, and not touched. He endured those who pressed Him; and was looking out for those who touched Him. And, Brethren, I would that if the Body of Christ be pressed by Pagans, by whom it is wont to be pressed; that at least Christians would not press the Body of Christ. Brethren, it is my business to speak to you, my business it is to speak to Christians; For what have I to do to judge them that are without? the Apostle himself says. Them we address in another way, as being weak. With them we must deal softly, that they may hear the truth; in you the corruption must be cut out. If you ask whereby the Pagans are to be gained over, whereby they are to be illuminated, and called to salvation; forsake their solemnities, forsake their trifling shows; and then if they do not consent to our truth, let them blush at their own scantiness.

12. If he who is over you be a good man, he is your nourisher; if a bad man, he is your tempter. Receive the nourishment in the one case with gladness, and in the temptation show yourself approved. Be gold. Regard this world as the furnace of the goldsmith; in one narrow place are there things, gold, chaff, fire. To the two former the fire is applied, the chaff is burned, and the gold purified. A man has yielded to threats, and been led away to the idol's temple: Alas! I bewail the chaff; I see the ashes. Another has not yet yielded to threats nor terrors; has been brought before the judge, and stood firm in his confession, and has not bent down to the idol image: what does the flame with him? Does it not purify the gold? Stand, fast then, Brethren, in the Lord; greater in power, is He who has called you. Be not afraid of the threats of the ungodly. Bear with your enemies; in them you have those for whom you may pray; let them by no means terrify you. This is saving health, draw out in this feast here from this source; here drink that wherewith ye may be satisfied, and not in those other feasts, that only whereby ye may be maddened. Stand fast in the Lord. You are silver, you shall be gold. This similitude is not our own, it is out of Holy Scripture. You have read and heard, As gold in the furnace has He tried them, and received them as a burnt-offering. See what you shall be among the treasures of God. Be rich as touching God, not as if to make Him rich, but as to become rich from Him. Let Him replenish you; admit nought else into your heart.

13. Do we lift up ourselves unto pride, or tell you to be despisers against the powers ordained? Not so. Do you again who are sick on this point, touch also that border of the garment? The Apostle himself says, Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God. He then who resists the power, resists the ordinance of God. But what if it enjoin what you ought not to do? In this case by all means disregard the power through fear of Power. Consider these several grades of human powers. If the magistrate enjoin anything, must it not be done? Yet if his order be in opposition to the Proconsul, you do not surely despise the power, but choosest to obey a greater power. Nor in this case ought the less to be angry, if the greater be preferred. Again, if the Proconsul himself enjoin anything, and the Emperor another thing, is there any doubt, that disregarding the former, we ought to obey the latter? So then if the Emperor enjoin one thing, and God another, what judge ye? Pay me tribute, submit yourself to my allegiance. Right, but not in an idol's temple. In an idol's temple He forbids it. Who forbids it? A greater Power. Pardon me then: you threaten a prison, He threatens hell. Here must you at once take to you your faith as a shield, whereby you may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the enemy.

14. But one of these powers is plotting, and contriving evil designs against you. Well: he is but sharpening the razor wherewith to shave the hair, but not to cut the head. You have but just now heard this that I have said in the Psalm, You have worked deceit like a sharp razor. Why did He compare the deceit of a wicked man in power to a razor? Because it does not reach, save to our superfluous parts. As hairs on our body seem as it were superfluous, and are shaven off without any loss of the flesh; so whatsoever an angry man in power can take from you, count only among your superfluities. He takes away your poverty; can he take away your wealth? Your poverty is your wealth in your heart. Your superfluous things only has he power to take away, these only has he power to injure, even though he had license given him so far as to hurt the body. Yea even this life itself to those whose thoughts are of another life, this present life, I say, may be reckoned among the things superfluous. For so the Martyrs have despised it. They did not lose life, but they gained Life.

15. Be sure, Brethren, that enemies have no power against the faithful, except so far as it profits them to be tempted and proved. Of this be sure, Brethren, let no one say ought against it. Cast all your care upon the Lord, throw yourselves wholly and entirely upon Him. He will not withdraw Himself that you should fall. He who created us, has given us security touching our very hairs. Verily I say unto you, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Our hairs are numbered by God; how much more is our conduct known to Him to whom our hairs are thus known? See then, how that God does not disregard our least things. For if He disregarded them, He would not create them. For He verily both created our hairs, and still takes count of them. But you will say, though they are preserved at present, perhaps they will perish. On this point also hear His word, Verily I say unto you, there shall not an hair of your head perish. Why are you afraid of man, O man, whose place is in the Bosom of God? Fall not out of His Bosom; whatsoever you shall suffer there, will avail to your salvation, not to your destruction. Martyrs have endured the tearing of their limbs, and shall Christians fear the injuries of Christian times? He who would do you an injury now, can only do it in fear. He does not say openly, come to the idol-feast; he does not say openly, come to my altars, and banquet there. And if he should say so, and you were to refuse, let him make a complaint of it, let him bring it as an accusation and charge against you: He would not come to my altars, he would not come to my temple, where I worship. Let him say this. He does not dare; but in his guile he contrives another attack. Make ready your hair; he is sharpening the razor; he is about to take off your superfluous things, to shave what you must soon leave behind you. Let him take off what shall endure, if he can. This powerful enemy, what has he taken away? What great thing has he taken away? That which a thief or housebreaker could take: in his utmost rage, he can but take what a robber can. Even if he should have license given him to the slaying of the very body, what does he take away, but what the robber can take? I did him too much honour, when I said, a robber. For be the robber who and what he may, he is a man. He takes from you what a fever, or an adder, or a poisonous mushroom can take. Here lies the whole power of the rage of men, to do what a mushroom can! Men eat a poisonous mushroom, and they die. Lo! In what frail estate is the life of man; which sooner or later you must abandon; do not struggle then in such wise for it, as that you should be abandoned yourself.

16. Christ is our Life; think then of Christ. He came to suffer, but also to be glorified; to be despised, but to be exalted also; to die; but also to rise again. If the labour alarm you, see its reward. Why do you wish to arrive by softness at that to which nothing but hard labour can lead? Now you are afraid, lest you should lose your money; because you earn your money with great labour. If you did not attain to your money, which you must some time or other lose, at all events when you die, without labour, would you desire without labour to attain to the Life eternal? Let that be of higher value in your eyes, to which after all your labours you shall in such sort attain as never more to lose it. If this money, to which you have attained after all your labours on such condition as that you must some time lose it, be of high value with you; how much more ought we to long after those things which are everlasting!

17. Give no credit to their words, neither be afraid of them. They say that we are enemies of their idols. May God so grant, and give all into our power, as He has already given us that which we have broken down. For this I say, Beloved, that you may not attempt to do it, when it is not lawfully in your power to do it; for it is the way of ill-regulated men, and the mad Circumcelliones, both to be violent when they have no power, and to be ever eager in their wishes to die without a cause. You heard what we read to you, all of you who were present in the Mappalia. When the land shall have been given into your power (he says first, into your power, and so enjoined what was to be done); then, says he, you shall destroy their altars, and break in pieces their groves, and hew down all their images. When we shall have got the power, do this. When the power has not been given us, we do not do it; when it is given, we do not neglect it. Many Pagans have these abominations on their own estates; do we go and break them in pieces? No, for our first efforts are that the idols in their hearts should be broken down. When they too are made Christians themselves, they either invite us to so good a work, or anticipate us. At present we must pray for them, not be angry with them. If very painful feelings excite us, it is rather against Christians, it is against our brethren, who will enter into the Church in such a mind, as to have their body there, and their heart anywhere else. The whole ought to be within. If that which man sees is within, why is that which God sees without?

18. Now you may know, Dearly Beloved, that these unite their murmurings with Heretics and with Jews. Heretics, Jews, and Heathens have made a unity against Unity. Because it has happened, that in some places the Jews have received chastisement because of their wickednesses; they charge and suspect us, or pretend, that we are always seeking the like treatment for them. Again, because it has happened that the heretics in some places have suffered the penalty of the laws for the impiety and fury of their deeds of violence; they say immediately that we are seeking by every means some harm for their destruction. Again, because it has been resolved that laws should be passed against the Heathen, yea for them rather, if they were only wise. (For as when silly boys are playing with the mud, and dirtying their hands, the strict master comes, shakes the mud out of their hands, and holds out their book; so has it pleased God by the hands of princes His subjects to alarm their childish, foolish hearts, that they may throw away the dirt from their hands, and set about something useful. And what is this something useful with the hands, but, Break your bread to the hungry, and bring the houseless poor into your house? But nevertheless these children escape from their master's sight, and return stealthily to their mud, and when they are discovered they hide their hands that they may not be seen.) Because then it has so pleased God, they think that we are looking out for the idols everywhere, and that we break them down in all places where we have discovered them. How so? Are there not places before our very eyes in which they are? Or are we indeed ignorant where they are? And yet we do not break them down, because God has not given them into our power. When does God give them into our power? When the masters of these things shall become Christians. The master of a certain place has just lately wished this to be done. If he had not been minded to give the place itself to the Church, and only had given orders that there should be no idols on his property; I think that it ought to have been executed with the greatest devotion, that the soul of the absent Christian brother, who wishes on his land to return thanks to God, and would not that there should be anything there to God's dishonour, might be assisted by his fellow Christians. Added to this, that in this case he gave the place itself to the Church. And shall there be idols in the Church's estate? Brethren, see then what it is that displeases the Heathens. It is but a little matter with them that we do not take them away from their estates, that we do not break them down: they would have them kept up even in our own places. We preach against idols, we take them away from the hearts of men; we are persecutors of idols; we openly profess it. Are we then to be the preservers of them? I do not touch them when I have not the power; I do not touch them when the lord of the property complains of it; but when he wishes it to be done, and gives thanks for it, I should incur guilt if I did it not.

Sermon 13 on the New Testament

[LXIII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 8:23 , And when he was entered into a boat, etc.

1. By the Lord's blessing, I will address you upon the lesson of the Holy Gospel which has just been read, and take occasion thereby to exhort you, that against the tempest and waves of this world, faith sleep not in your hearts. For the Lord Christ had not indeed death nor sleep in His power, and perhaps sleep overcame the Almighty One as He was sailing against His will? If you believe this, He is asleep in you; but if Christ be awake in you, your faith is awake. The Apostle says, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. This sleep then of Christ is a sign of a high mystery. The sailors are the souls passing over the world in wood. That ship also was a figure of the Church. And all, individually indeed are temples of God, and his own heart is the vessel in which each sails; nor can he suffer shipwreck, if his thoughts are only good.

2. You have heard an insult, it is the wind; you are angry, it is a wave. When therefore the wind blows, and the wave swells, the ship is endangered, the heart is in jeopardy, the heart is tossed to and fro. When you have heard an insult, you long to be avenged; and, lo, avenged you have been, and so rejoicing in another's harm you have suffered shipwreck. And why is this? Because Christ is asleep in you. What does this mean, Christ is asleep in you? You have forgotten Christ. Rouse Him up then, call Christ to mind, let Christ awake in you, give heed to Him. What did you wish? To be avenged. Have you forgotten, that when He was being crucified, He said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do? He who was asleep in your heart did not wish to be avenged. Awake Him up then, call Him to remembrance. The remembrance of Him is His word; the remembrance of Him is His command. And then will you say if Christ, awake in you, What manner of man am I, who wish to be avenged! Who am I, who deal out threatenings against another man? I may die perhaps before I am avenged. And when at my last breath, inflamed with rage, and thirsting for vengeance, I shall depart out of this body, He will not receive me, who did not wish to be avenged; He will not receive me, who said, Give, and it shall be given unto you; forgive, and it shall be forgiven you. Therefore will I refrain myself from my wrath, and return to the repose of my heart. Christ has commanded the sea, tranquillity is restored.

3. Now what I have said as to anger, hold fast as a rule in all your temptations. A temptation has sprung up; it is the wind; you are disturbed; it is a wave. Awake up Christ then, let Him speak with you. Who is this, since the winds and the sea obey Him? Who is this, whom the sea obeys? The sea is His, and He made it. All things were made by Him. Imitate the winds then, and the sea rather; obey the Creator. At Christ's command the sea gives ear; and are you deaf? The sea hears, and the wind ceases: and do you still blow on? What! I say, I do, I devise; what is all this, but to be blowing on, and to be unwilling to stop in obedience to the word of Christ? Let not the wave master you in this troubled state of your heart. Yet since we are but men, if the wind should drive us on, and stir up the affections of our souls, let us not despair; let us awake Christ, that we may sail on a tranquil sea, and so come to our country. Let us turn to the Lord, etc.

Sermon 14 on the New Testament

[LXIV. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 10:16 , Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves, etc. Delivered on a Festival of Martyrs.

1. When the Holy Gospel was read, Brethren, you heard how our Lord Jesus Christ strengthened His Martyrs by His teaching, saying, Behold, I send you forth as lambs in the midst of wolves. Now consider, my Brethren, what he does. If but one wolf come among many sheep, be they ever so many thousands, they will all be put to confusion by one wolf in the midst of them: and though all may not be torn, yet all are frightened. What manner of design is this then, what manner of counsel, what manner of power, not to let in a wolf among the sheep, but to send the sheep against the wolves! I send you, says He, as sheep in the midst of wolves; not to the neighbourhood of wolves, but in the midst of wolves. There was then at that time a herd of wolves, and but few sheep. For when the many wolves killed the few sheep, the wolves were changed and became sheep.

2. Let us hear then what advice He has given, who has promised the crown, but has first appointed the combat; who is a spectator of the combatants, and assists them in their toil. What manner of conflict has He prescribed? Be, says He, wise as serpents, and simple as doves. Whoever understands, and holds to this, may die in assurance that he will not really die. For no one ought to die in this assurance, but he who knows that he shall in such sort die, as that death only shall die in him, and life be crowned.

3. Wherefore, Beloved, I must explain to you, though I have often spoken already on this subject, what it is to be simple as doves, and wise as serpents. Now if the simplicity of doves be enjoined us, what has the wisdom of the serpent to do in the simplicity of the dove? This in the dove I love, that she has no gall; this I fear in the serpent, that he has poison. But now do not fear the serpent altogether; something he has for you to hate, and something for you to imitate. For when the serpent is weighed down with age, and he feels the burden of his many years, he contracts and forces himself into a hole, and lays aside his old coat of skin, that he may spring forth into new life. Imitate him in this, you Christian, who hears Christ saying, Enter in at the strait gate. And the Apostle Paul says to you, Put off the old man with his deeds, and put on the new man. You have then something to imitate in the serpent. Die not for the old man, but for the truth. Whoever dies for any temporal good dies for the old man. But when you have stripped yourself of all that old man, you have imitated the wisdom of the serpent. Imitate him in this again; keep your head safe. And what does this mean, keep your head safe? Keep Christ with you. Have not some of you, it may be, observed, on occasions when you have wished to kill an adder, how to save his head, he will expose his whole body to the strokes of his assailant? He would not that that part of him should be struck, where he knows that his life resides. And our Life is Christ, for He has said Himself, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. Here the Apostle also; The Head of the man is Christ. Whoever then keeps Christ in him, keeps his head for his protection.

4. Now what need is there to commend to you in many words the simplicity of the dove? For the serpent's poison had need to be guarded against: there, there was a danger in imitation; there, there was something to be feared; but the dove may you imitate securely. Mark how the doves rejoice in society; everywhere do they fly and feed together; they do not love to be alone, they delight in communion, they preserve affection; their cooings are the plaintive cries of love, with kissings they beget their young. Yea even when doves, as we have often noticed, dispute about their holes, it is as it were but a peaceful strife. Do they separate, because of their contentions? Nay, still do they fly and feed together, and their very strife is peaceful. See this strife of doves, in what the Apostle says, If any man obey not our word by this epistle, mark that man, and have no company with him. Behold the strife; but observe now how it is the strife of doves, not of wolves. He subjoined immediately, Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. The dove loves even when she is in strife; and the wolf even when he caresses, hates. Therefore having the simplicity of doves, and the wisdom of serpents, celebrate the solemnities of the Martyrs in sobriety of mind, not in bodily excess, sing lauds to God. For He who is the Martyrs' God, is our Lord God also, He it is who will crown us. If we shall have wrestled well, we shall be crowned by Him, who has crowned already those whom we desire to imitate.

Sermon 15 on the New Testament

[LXV. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 10:28 , Be not afraid of them that kill the body. Delivered on a Festival of Martyrs.

1. The Divine oracles which have just been read teach us in fearing not to fear, and in not fearing to fear. You observed when the Holy Gospel was being read, that our Lord God before He died for us, would have us to be firm; and this by admonishing us not to fear, and withal to fear. For he said, Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. See where He advised us not to fear. See now where He advised us to fear. But, says he, fear Him who has power to destroy both body and soul in hell. Let us fear therefore, that we may not fear. Fear seems to be allied to cowardice: seems to be the character of the weak, not the strong. But see what says the Scripture, The fear of the Lord is the hope of strength. Let us then fear, that we may not fear; that is, let us fear prudently, that we may not fear vainly. The holy Martyrs on the occasion of whose solemnity this lesson was read out of the Gospel, in fearing, feared not; because in fearing God, they did not regard men.

2. For what need a man fear from man? And what is that whereby one man should cause another fear, since both of them are men? One threatens and says, I will kill you; and does not fear, lest after his threat he die before he have fulfilled it. I will kill you, he says. Who says it, and to whom? I hear two men, the one threatening, and the other alarmed: of whom the one is powerful, and the other weak, yet both are mortal. Why then does he so stretch out himself, he, in honour, a somewhat more inflated power, in body, equal weakness? Let him securely threaten death who does not fear death. But if he fear that whereby he causes fear; let him think of himself, and compare himself with him whom he is threatening. Let him see in him whom he threatens a likeness of condition, and so together with him let him seek like pity from the Lord. For he is but a man, and he threatens another man, a creature, another creature; only the one puffed up under his Creator's eye, and the other fleeing for refuge to the same Creator.

3. Let the stout Martyr then, as he stands a man before another man, say; I do not fear, because I fear. You can not do what you are threatening, unless He will; but what He threatens, none can hinder Him from doing. And then again, what do you threaten, and what can you do, if you are permitted? Your violence extends but to the flesh, the soul is safe from you. You can not kill what you do not see: visible yourself, you threaten that which is visible in me. But we have both an invisible Creator, whom we ought both to fear; who of that which was both visible and invisible created man. He made Him visible out of the earth, and with His Breath He breathed into Him an invisible Spirit. Therefore the invisible substance, that is, the soul, which has raised from the earth the earth as it lay, does not fear, when you assault the earth. You can strike the habitation, but can you strike him who dwells there? When the chain is broken, he escapes who before was bound, and he will now be crowned in secret. Why then do you threaten me, who can do nothing to my soul? Through the desert of that to which you can do nothing, will that to which your power extends rise again. For through the soul's desert, will the flesh also rise again; and will be restored to its inhabitant, now no more to fail, but to endure forever. Behold (I am using the words of a Martyr), behold, I say, not even on account of my body do I fear your threats. My body indeed is subject to your power; but even the hairs of my head are numbered by my Creator. Why should I fear lest I lose my body, who cannot even lose a hair? How shall he not have a care of my body, to whom my meanest things are so well known? This body which may be wounded and slain will for a time be ashes, but it will be for ever immortal. But to whom shall this be? To whom shall the body be restored for life eternal, even though it have been slain, destroyed, and scattered to the winds? To whom shall it be so restored? To him who has not been afraid to lay down his own life, since he does not fear, lest his body should be slain.

4. For, Brethren, the soul is said to be immortal, and immortal it is according to a certain manner of its own: for it is a kind of life which is able to give life to the body by its presence. For by the soul does the body live. This life cannot die, and therefore is the soul immortal. Why then said I according to a certain manner of its own? Hear why. Because there is a true immortality, an immortality which is an entire unchangeableness; of which the Apostle says, speaking of God, Who only has immortality, dwelling in that light which no man may approach unto, whom no man has seen, nor can see, to whom be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. If then God only has immortality, the soul must needs be mortal. See then why it was that I said that the soul is immortal after a certain manner of its own. For in fact it may also die. Understand this, Beloved, and there will remain no difficulty. I venture to say then that the soul can die, can be slain also. Yet it is undoubtedly immortal. See, I venture to say, it is at once immortal, and it may be slain; and therefore I said that there is a kind of immortality, an entire unchangeableness, that is, which God Only has, of whom it is said, Who Only has immortality; for if the soul cannot be slain, how did the Lord Himself say, when He would make us fear, Fear Him who has power to slay both body and soul in hell?

5. Hitherto I have confirmed, not solved, the difficulty. I have proved that the soul can be slain. The Gospel cannot be gainsaid but by the ungodly soul. Lo, something occurs to me here, and comes into my mind to speak. Life cannot be gainsaid, but by a dead soul. The Gospel is life, impiety and infidelity are the death of the soul. See then, it can die, and yet it is immortal. How then is it immortal? Because there is always a sort of life which is never extinguished in it. And how does it die? Not in ceasing to be life, but by losing its life. For the soul is both life to something else, and it has its own proper life. Consider the order of the creatures. The soul is the life of the body: God is the life of the soul. As the life, that is the soul, is present with the body, that the body die not; so ought the life of the soul, that is God, to be with it that the soul die not. How does the body die? By the soul's leaving it. I say, by the soul's leaving it the body dies; and it lies along a mere carcass, what was a little before a desirable, now a contemptible, object. There are in it still its several members, the eyes, and ears; but these are but the windows of the house, its inhabitant is gone. They who bewail the dead, cry in vain at the windows of the house; there is none within to hear. How many things does the fond affection of the mourner give utterance to, how many enumerate and call to mind; and with what a madness of sorrow, so to say, does he speak, as with one who was sensible of what was doing, when he is really speaking with one who is no longer there? He recounts his good qualities, and the tokens of his goodness towards himself. It was you that gave me this; and did this and that for me; it was you who did thus, and thus dearly love me. But if you would only consider and understand, and restrain the madness of your grief, he who once loved you, is gone; in vain does the house receive your knockings, in which you can not find a dweller.

6. Let us return to the subject I was speaking of a little while since. The body is dead. Why? Because its life, that is the soul, is gone. Again, the body is alive, and the man is impious, unbelieving, hard of belief, incorrigible; in this case while the body is alive, the soul by which the body lives is dead. For the soul is so excellent a thing, that it has power even though dead to give life to the body. So excellent a thing, I say, is the soul, so excellent a creature, that even though dead itself, it has power to quicken the body. For the soul of the impious, unbelieving, unregulated man is dead, and yet by it though dead the body lives. And therefore is it in the body; it sets on the hands to work, and the feet to walk; it directs the eye to see, it disposes the ears to hear, it discriminates tastes, avoids pains, seeks after pleasures. All these are tokens of the life of the body; but they are from the presence of the soul. If I were to ask a body whether it were alive; it would answer me, You see me walking, you see me working, you hear me talking, you perceive that I have certain aims and aversions, and do you not understand that the body is alive? By these works then of the soul which is placed within, I understand that the body is alive. I ask the soul also whether it is alive? It also has its proper works, by which it manifests its life. The feet walk. I understand by this that the body lives, but by the presence of the soul. I ask now, does the soul live? These feet walk. (To speak only of this one movement.) I am questioning both body and soul, as touching their life. The feet walk, I understand that the body lives. But whither do they walk? To adultery, it is said. Then is the soul dead. For so has unerring Scripture said, The widow who lives in pleasure is dead. Now since the difference is great between pleasure and adultery, how can the soul which is said to be dead in pleasure, live in adultery? It is surely dead. But it is dead even though it be not in this case. I hear a man speaking; the body then lives. For the tongue could not move itself in the mouth, and by its several motions give utterance to articulate sounds, were there not an inhabitant within; and a musician as it were to this instrument, to make use of his tongue. I understand it perfectly. Thus the body speaks; the body then lives. But I ask, is the soul alive also? Lo, the body speaks, and so is alive. But what does it speak? As I said concerning the feet; they walk, and so the body is alive, and I then asked, whither do they walk? That I might understand whether the soul was alive also. So also when I hear a man speak, I understand that the body is alive; I ask what does he speak, that I may know whether the soul is alive also. He speaks a lie. If so, then is the soul dead. How do we prove this? Let us ask the truth itself, which says, The mouth that lies, slays the soul. I ask, why is the soul dead? I ask as I did just now, why is the body dead? Because the soul, its life, had gone. Why is the soul dead? Because God, its life, has forsaken it.

7. After this brief examination then, know and hold for certain that the body is dead without the soul, and that the soul is dead without God. Every man without God has a dead soul. You bewail the dead: bewail the sinner rather, bewail rather the ungodly man, bewail the unbeliever. It is written, The mourning for the dead is seven days; for a fool and an ungodly man all the days of his life. What! Are there no bowels of Christian compassion in you; that you mourn for a body from which the soul is gone, and mournest not for the soul, from which God is departed? Let the Martyr remembering this make answer to him that threatens him, Why do you force me to deny Christ? Would you then force me to deny the truth? And if I will not, what will you do? You will assault my body, that my soul shall depart from it; but this same soul of mine has its body only for the soul's sake. It is not so foolish or unwise. You would wound my body; but would you, that through fear lest you should wound my body, and my soul should depart from it, I should wound my own soul, and my God should depart from it? Fear not then, O Martyr, the sword of your executioner; fear only your own tongue, lest you do execution upon your own self, and slay, not your body, but your soul. Fear for your soul, lest it die in hell-fire.

8. Therefore said the Lord, Who has power to slay both body and soul in hell-fire. How? When the ungodly shall be cast into hell-fire, will his body and his soul burn there? Everlasting punishment will be the death of the body; the absence of God will be the death of the soul. Would you know what the death of the soul is? Understand the Prophet who says, Let the ungodly be taken away, that he may not see the glory of the Lord. Let the soul then fear its proper death, and not fear the death of its body. Because if it fear its own death, and so live in its God, by not offending and thrusting Him away from him, it will be found worthy to receive its body again at the end; not unto everlasting punishment, as the ungodly, but unto life eternal, as the righteous. By fearing this death, and loving that life, did the Martyrs, in hope of the promises of God, and in contempt of the threats of persecutors, attain themselves to be crowned with God, and have left to us the celebration of these solemnities.

Sermon 16 on the New Testament

[LXVI. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 11:2 , Now when John heard in the prison the works of the Christ, he sent by his disciples, and said to him, are you He that comes, or look we for another? etc.

1. The lesson of the Holy Gospel has set before us a question touching John the Baptist. May the Lord assist me to resolve it to you, as He has resolved it to us. John was commended, as you have heard, by the testimony of Christ, and in such terms commended, as that there had not risen a greater among those who were born of women. But a greater than he had been born of a Virgin. How much greater? Let the herald himself declare, how great the difference is between himself and his Judge, whose herald he is. For John went before Christ both in his birth and preaching; but it was in obedience that he went before Him; not in preferring himself before Him. For so the whole train of attendants walks before the judge; yet they who walk before, are really after him. How signal a testimony then did John give to Christ? Even to saying that he was not worthy to loose the latchet of His shoes. And what more? Of His fullness, says he, have all we received. He confessed that he was but a lamp lighted at His Light, and so he took refuge at His feet, lest venturing on high, he should be extinguished by the wind of pride. So great indeed was he, that he was taken for Christ; and if he had not himself testified that he was not He, the mistake would have continued, and he would have been reputed to be the Christ. What striking humility! Honour was proffered him by the people, and he himself refused it. Men were at fault in his greatness, and he humbled himself. He had no wish to increase by the words of men, seeing he had comprehended the Word of God.

2. This then did John say concerning Christ. And what said Christ of John? We have just now heard. He began to say to the multitudes concerning John, What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? Surely not; for John was not blown about by every wind of doctrine. But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? No, for John was clothed in rough apparel; he had his raiment of camel's hair, not of down. But what did you go out to see? A Prophet? Yea, and more than a Prophet. Why more than a Prophet? The Prophets foretold that the Lord would come, whom they desired to see, and saw not; but to him was vouchsafed what they sought. John saw the Lord; he saw Him, pointed his finger toward Him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world; behold, here He is. Now had He come and was not acknowledged; and so a mistake was made also as to John himself. Behold then here is He whom the Patriarchs desired to see, whom the Prophets foretold, whom the Law prefigured. Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. And he gave a goodly testimony to the Lord, and the Lord to him. Among them that are born of women, says the Lord, there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding, he that is less in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he; less in time, but greater in majesty. This He said, meaning Himself to be understood. Now exceedingly great among men is John the Baptist, than whom among men Christ alone is greater. It may also be thus stated and explained, Among them that are born of women there has not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding, he that is the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. Not in the sense that I have before explained it. Notwithstanding, he that is the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he; the kingdom of heaven he meant where the Angels are; he then that is the least among the Angels, is greater than John. Thus He set forth to us the excellence of that kingdom which we should long for; set before us a city, of which we should desire to be citizens. What sort of citizens are there? How great are they! Whoever is the least there, is greater than John. Than what John? Than whom there has not risen a greater among them that are born of women.

3. Thus have we heard the true and good record both of John concerning Christ, and of Christ concerning John. What then is the meaning of this; that John sent his disciples to Him when He was shut up in prison, on the eve of being put to death, and said to them, Go, say to Him, Are You He that should come, or do we look for another? Is this then all that praise? That praise is it turned to doubting? What do you say, John? To Whom are you speaking? What do you say? You speak to your Judge, yourself the herald. You stretched out the finger, and pointed Him out; you said, Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who takes away the sins of the world. Thou said, Of His fullness have we all received. Thou said, I am not worthy to unloose the latchet of His shoes. And do you now say, Are You He that should come, or do we look for another? Is not this the same Christ? And who are you? Are you not His forerunner? Are you not he of whom it was foretold, Behold, I send my messenger before Your face, who shall prepare Your way before you? How do you prepare the way, and you are yourself straying from the way? So then the disciples of John came; and the Lord said to them, Go, tell John, the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the poor have the Gospel preached to them; and blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in Me. Do not suspect that John was offended in Christ. And yet his words do sound so; Are You He that should come? Ask my works; The blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the dead are raised, the poor have the Gospel preached to them; and do you ask whether I am He? My works, says He, are My words. Go, show him again. And as they departed. Lest haply any one should say, John was good at first, and the Spirit of God forsook him; therefore after their departure, he spoke these words; after their departure whom John had sent, Christ commended John.

4. What is the meaning then of this obscure question? May that Sun shine upon us, from which that lamp derived its flame. And so the resolution of it is altogether plain. John had separate disciples of his own; not as in separation from Christ, but prepared as a witness to him. For meet it was that such an one should give his testimony to Christ, who was himself also gathering disciples, and who might have been envious of Him, for that he could not see Him. Therefore because John's disciples highly esteemed their master, they heard from John his record concerning Christ, and marvelled; and as he was about to die, it was his wish that they should be confirmed by him. For no doubt they were saying among themselves; Such great things does he say of Him, but none such of himself. Go then, ask Him; not because I doubt, but that you may be instructed. Go, ask Him, hear from Himself what I am in the habit of telling you; you have heard the herald, be confirmed by the Judge. Go, ask Him, Are You He that should come, or do we look for another? They went accordingly and asked; not for John's sake, but for their own. And for their sakes did Christ say, The blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the lepers are cleansed, the dead are raised, the poor have the Gospel preached to them. You see Me, acknowledge Me then; you see the works, acknowledge the Doer. And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in Me. But it is of you I speak, not of John. For that we might know that He spoke not this of John, as they departed, He began to speak to the multitudes concerning John; the True, the Truth Himself, proclaimed his true praises.

5. I think this question has been sufficiently explained. Let it suffice then to have prolonged my address thus far. Now keep the poor in mind. Give, you who have not given hitherto; believe me, you will not lose it. Yes, truly, that only it seems ye lose, which you do not carry to the circus. Now must we render unto the poor the offerings of such of you as have offered anything, and the amount which we have is much less than your usual offerings. Shake off this sloth. I have become a beggar for beggars; what is that to me? I would be a beggar for beggars, that you may be reckoned among the number of children.

Sermon 17 on the New Testament

[LXVII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 11:25 , I thank you, O Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, etc.

1. When the Holy Gospel was being read, we heard that the Lord Jesus exulted in Spirit, and said, I confess to You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for that You have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Thus much to begin with, we find before we pass on further, if we consider the words of the Lord with due attention, with diligence, and above all with piety, that we ought not invariably to understand when we read of confession in the Scriptures, the confession of a sinner. Now special need there was of saying this, and of reminding you, Beloved, of this, because as soon as this word was uttered by the reader's voice, there followed upon it the sound of the beating of your breasts, when you had heard, I mean, what the Lord said, I confess to You, O Father. At the uttering of these words, I confess, you beat your breasts. Now what means this beating of the breast, but to show that which lies hid within the breast, and to chastise by the visible beating the secret sin? And why did you do this, but because you heard, I confess to You, O Father. You heard the words I confess, but you did not consider, who it is that confesses. But consider now. If Christ, from whom all sin is far removed, said, I confess: confession does not belong to the sinner only, but sometimes to him also that praises God. We confess then, whether in praising God, or accusing ourselves. In either case it is a godly confession, either when you blame yourself, who art not without sin, or when you praise Him who can have no sin.

2. But if we consider it well: your own blame is His praise. For why is it that you now confess in accusing yourself for your sin? In accusing yourself why do you confess? But because you have become alive from the dead? For the Scripture says, Confession perishes from the dead, as from one that is not. If confession perishes from the dead, he who confesses must be alive; and if he confesses sin he has undoubtedly risen again from death. Now if he that confesses sin has risen again from the dead, who has raised him? No dead man can raise himself. He only was able to raise Himself, who though His Body was dead, was not dead. For He raised up that which was dead. He raised up Himself, who in Himself was alive, but in His Body that was to be raised was dead. For not the Father only, of whom it was said by the Apostle, Wherefore God also has exalted Him, raised the Son, but the Lord also raised Himself, that is, His Body. Whence He said, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it again. But the sinner is dead, especially he whom the load of sinful habit presses down, who is buried as it were like Lazarus. For he was not merely dead, he was buried also. Whosoever then is oppressed by the load of evil habit, of a wicked life, of earthly lusts, I mean, so that that in his case is true which is piteously described in a certain Psalm, The fool has said in his heart, There is no God, he is such an one, of whom it is said, Confession perishes from the dead, as from one that is not. And who shall raise him up, but He who when the stone was removed, cried out, and said, Lazarus, Come forth? Now what is to come forth, but to bring forth what was hidden? He then who confesses comes forth. Come forth he could not were he not alive; he could not be alive, had he not been raised again. And therefore in confession the accusing of one's self, is the praise of God.

3. Now one may say, what profit then is the Church, if he that confesses comes forth, at once raised to life again by the voice of the Lord? What profit to Him that confesses, is the Church, to which the Lord said, Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven. Consider this very case of Lazarus: he comes forth, but with his bands. He was alive already through confession, but he did not yet walk free, entangled as he was in his bands. What then does the Church to which it was said, Whatsoever you shall loose, shall be loosed; but what the Lord said immediately to His disciples, Loose him, and let him go?

4. Whether then we accuse ourselves, or directly praise God, in both ways do we praise God. If with a pious intention we accuse ourselves, by so doing we praise God. When we praise God directly, we do as it were celebrate His Holiness, who is without sin: but when we accuse ourselves, we give Him glory, by whom we have risen again. This if you shall do, the enemy will find none occasion whereby to overreach you before the judge. For when you shall be your own accuser, and the Lord your Deliverer, what shall he be but a mere calumniator? With good reason has the Christian hereby provided protection for himself against his enemies, not those that may be seen, flesh and blood, to be pitied, rather than to be feared, but against those against whom the Apostle exhorts us to arm ourselves: We wrestle not against flesh and blood; that is, against men whom you see raging against you. They are but vessels, which another uses, they are but instruments which another handles. The devil, says the Scripture, entered into the heart of Judas, that he should betray the Lord. One may say then, what have I done? Hear the Apostle, Give not place to the devil. You have given him place by an evil will: he entered, and possessed, and now uses you. He had not possessed you, had you not given him place.

5. Therefore does he warn and say, We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. Any one might suppose this meant against the kings of the earth, against the powers of this world. How so? Are they not flesh and blood? And once for all it is said, not against flesh and blood. Turn your attention from all men. What enemies then remain? Against principalities and powers of spiritual wickedness, the rulers of the world. It might seem as though he gave the devil and his angels more than they have. It is so, he has called them the rulers of the world. But to prevent misunderstanding, he explains what this world is, of which they are the rulers. The rulers of the world, of this darkness. What is, of the world, of this darkness? The world is full of those who love it, and of unbelievers, over whom he is ruler. This the Apostle calls darkness. This darkness the devil and his angels are the rulers of. This is not the natural, and unchangeable darkness: this darkness changes, and becomes light; it believes, and by believing is enlightened. When this takes place in it, it will hear the words, For you were sometimes darkness, but now are you light in the Lord. For when you were darkness, you were not in the Lord: again, when you are light, you are light not in yourselves, but in the Lord. For what have you which you have not received? Inasmuch then as they are invisible enemies, by invisible means must they be subdued. A visible enemy indeed you may overcome by blows; your invisible enemy you conquer by belief. A man is a visible enemy; to strike a blow is visible also. The devil is an invisible enemy; to believe is invisible also. Against invisible enemies then there is an invisible fight.

6. From these enemies how can any man say that he is safe? For this I had begun to speak of, but I thought it necessary to treat of these enemies at some little length. But now that we know our enemies, let us see to our defense against them. In praising I will call upon the Lord, so shall I be safe from mine enemies. You see what you have to do. In praising call; that is, in praising the Lord, call. For you will not be safe from your enemies, if you praise yourself. In praising call upon the Lord, and you shall be safe from your enemies. For what does the Lord Himself say? The sacrifice of praise shall glorify Me, and there is the way, in which I will show him My salvation. Where is the way? In the sacrifice of praise. Let not your foot then wander out of this way. Keep in the way; depart not from it; from the praise of the Lord depart not a foot, nay, not a nail's breadth. For if you will deviate from this way, and praise yourself instead of the Lord, you will not be safe from your enemies; for it is said of them, They have laid stumbling-blocks for me by the way. Therefore in whatever measure you think that you have good of your own self, you have deviated from the praise of God. Why do you marvel then, if your enemy seduces you, when you are your own seducer? Hear the Apostle, For if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he seduces himself.

7. Give heed then to the Lord confessing; I confess to You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. I confess to You, that is, I praise You. I praise You, not I accuse myself. Now as far as the taking of very man is concerned, all is grace, singular and perfect grace. What merit had that man who is Christ, if you take away the grace, even that so pre-eminent grace, whereby it behooved that there should be One Christ, and that He whom we acknowledge should be He? Take away this grace, and what is Christ but a mere man? What but the same as you are yourself? He took a Soul, He took a Body, He took a perfect Man; He unites him to Himself, the Lord makes one Person with the servant. What pre-eminent grace is this! Christ in heaven, Christ on earth; Christ at once both in heaven and earth; not two Christs, but the same Christ, both in heaven and earth. Christ with the Father, Christ in the Virgin's womb; Christ on the Cross, Christ succouring some souls in hell; and on the self-same day Christ in paradise with the robber who confessed. And how did the robber attain to this blessedness, but because he held on that way, in which He shows His salvation? That way, from which let not your foot wander. For in that he accused himself, he praised God, and made his own life blessed. He looked in hope for this from the Lord, and said to Him, Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom. For he considered his own wicked deeds, and thought it much, if mercy should be shown him even at the last. But the Lord immediately after He had said, Remember me— when? when You come into Your kingdom, says, Verily I say unto you, Today shall you be with Me in paradise. Mercy offered at once, what misery deferred.

8. Hear then the Lord confessing; I confess to You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. What do I confess? Wherein do I praise you? For this confession, as I have said before, signifies praise. Because You have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. What is this, Brethren? Understand by that which is opposed to them. You have hid these things, says he, from the wise and prudent; and he did not say, you have revealed them to the foolish and imprudent, but You have hid these things indeed from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. To these wise and prudent, who are really objects of derision, to the arrogant who in false pretence are great, yet in truth are only swollen up, he opposed not the foolish, nor the imprudent, but babes. Who are babes? The humble. Therefore You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent. Under the name of the wise and prudent, He has Himself explained that the proud are understood, when He said, You have revealed them unto babes. Therefore from those who are not babes You have hidden them. What is from those who are not babes? From those who are not humble. And who are they but the proud? O way of the Lord! Either there was none, or it lay hid, that it might be revealed to us. Why did the Lord exult? Because it was revealed unto babes. We must be little babes; for if we would wish to be great, wise and prudent as it were, it is not revealed unto us. Who are these great ones? The wise and prudent. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Here then you have a remedy suggested from its opposite. For if by professing yourself wise, you have become a fool; profess yourself a fool, and you will be wise. But profess it in truth, profess it from the heart, for it is really so as you profess. If you profess it, do not profess it before men, and forbear to profess it before God. As to yourself, and all that is yours, you are altogether dark. For what else is it to be a fool, but to be dark in heart? He says of them at last, Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Before they professed this, what do we find? And their foolish heart was darkened. Acknowledge then that you are not to yourself a light. At best you are but an eye, you are not the light. And what good is even an open and a sound eye, if the light be wanting? Acknowledge therefore that of your own self you are no light to yourself; and cry out as it is written, You, Lord, will light my candle: You will enlighten, O Lord, my darkness with Your Light. For myself I was all darkness; but You are the Light that scatters the darkness, and enlightens me; of myself I am no light to myself, yea I have no portion of light but in You.

9. So John also, the friend of the Bridegroom, was thought to be the Christ, was thought to be the Light. He was not that Light, but that he might bear witness of the Light. But what was the Light? It was the true Light. What is the true Light? That which lightens every man. If that be the true Light which lightens every man, then it lightened John also, who professed and confessed rightly, Of His fullness have all we received. See if he said ought else, but You, O Lord, shall lighten my candle. Finally, being now enlightened, He gave His testimony. For the benefit of the blind the lamp gave witness to the Day. See how that He is a lamp; You sent, He said, unto John, and you were willing for a season to rejoice in his light; he was a burning and a shining lamp. He, the lamp, that is, a thing enlightened, was lighted that it might shine. That which can be lighted can be extinguished also. Now that it may not be extinguished, let it not expose itself to the wind of pride. Therefore, I confess to You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hid these things from the wise and prudent, from those who thought themselves to be light, and were darkness; and who because they were darkness, and thought themselves to be light, could not even be enlightened. But they who were darkness, and confessed that they were darkness, were little babes, not great; were humble, not proud. Rightly therefore did they say, O Lord, You will lighten my candle. They knew themselves, they praised the Lord. They did not stray from the way of salvation; They in praise called upon the Lord, and they were saved from their enemies.

10. Turning then to the Lord our God, the Father Almighty, in purity of heart, let us render unto Him, as our frailty best can, our highest and abundant thanks, with our whole mind praying His singular goodness, that in His good pleasure He would vouchsafe to hear our prayers, that by His Power He would drive out the enemy from our deeds and thoughts, would enlarge our faith, direct our minds, grant us spiritual thoughts, and bring us safe to His endless blessedness, through His Son Jesus Christ. Amen.

Sermon 18 on the New Testament

[LXVIII. Ben.]

Again on the words of the Gospel, Matthew 11:25 , I thank you, O Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, etc.

1. We have heard the Son of God saying, I confess to You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. What does he confess to Him? Wherein does he praise Him? Because You have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Who are the wise and prudent? Who the babes? What has He hid from the wise and prudent, and revealed unto babes? By the wise and prudent, He signifies those of whom St. Paul speaks; Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? Yet perhaps you still ask who they are. They are they perhaps who in their much disputation concerning God, have spoken falsely of Him; who, puffed up by their own doctrines, could in no wise find out and know God, and who for the God whose substance is incomprehensible and invisible, have thought the air and sky to be God, or the sun to be God, or anything which holds high place among the creatures to be God. For observing the grandeur and beauty and powers of the creatures, they rested in them, and found not the Creator.

2. These men does the Book of wisdom reprove, where it is said, For if they were able to know so much as to aim at the world, how did they not sooner find out the Lord thereof? They are accused as wasting their time and their busy disputes in investigating and measuring as it were the creature; they sought out the courses of the stars, the intervals of the planets, the movements of the heavenly bodies, so as to arrive by certain calculations to that degree of knowledge as to foretell the eclipses of the sun and moon; and that as they had foretold, so should the event be according to the day and hour, and to the portion of the bodies which should be eclipsed. Great industry, great activity of mind. But in these things they sought after the Creator, who was not far off from them, and they found Him not. Whom if they could have found, they might have had within them. With the best reason then, and very rightly were they accused, who could investigate the numbers of the stars, and their varied movements, and know and foretell the eclipses of the luminaries: rightly accused, I say, in that they found not Him by whom these had been created and ordained, because they neglected to seek Him. But be not much disquieted, if you are ignorant of the courses of the stars, and the proportions of the celestial and terrestrial bodies. Behold the fair beauty of the world, and praise its Creator's counsel. Behold what He has made, and love Him who made it: be this your greatest care. Love Him who made it; for He made you also after His own image, that you might love Him.

3. If then it is strange that those things of which Christ said, You have hid these things from the wise and prudent, were hidden from such wise men as these, who, occupied wholly about the creatures, chose to seek the Creator carelessly, and could not find Him; still more strange is it that there should even be found some wise and prudent men who were able to know Him. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Perhaps you ask, what truth do they hold in unrighteousness? Because that which may be known of God is manifest among them. How is it manifest? He goes on to say, For God has manifested it to them. Do you still enquire how He manifested it to them to whom He gave not the law? How? For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. There were then some such, not as Moses the servant of God, not as many Prophets who had an insight into and knowledge of these things, and were aided by the Spirit of God, which they drew in by faith, and drank with the throat of godliness, and poured forth again by the mouth of the interior man. Not such as these were they; but far unlike them, who by means of this visible creation were able to attain to the understanding of the Creator, and to say of these things which God has made; Behold what things He has made, He governs and contains also. He who has made them, Himself fills what He has made with His own presence. Thus much they were enabled to say. For these Paul also made mention of in the Acts of the Apostles, where, when he had said of God, For in Him we live and move and have our being (forasmuch as he was speaking to the Athenians among whom those learned men had existed); he subjoined immediately; As certain also of your own have said. Now it was no trivial thing they said; That in Him we live and move and have our being.

4. In what then were they unlike the others? Why were they blamed? Why rightly accused? Hear the words of the Apostle which I had begun to quote; The wrath of God, says he, is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness (even of those, namely, who had not received the law); against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness. What truth? Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them. By whose manifestation of it? For God has manifested it to them. How? For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His Eternal Power and Godhead. Why did He manifest it? That they might be without excuse. Wherein then are they to be blamed? Because that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God.

5. What mean these words, Glorified Him not as God? They did not give Him thanks. Is this then to glorify God; to give God thanks? Yes, verily. For what can be worse, if having been created after the image of God, and having come to know God, you shall not be thankful to Him? This surely, this is to glorify God, to give God thanks. The faithful know where and when it is said, Let us give thanks unto our Lord God. But who gives thanks to God, save he who lifts up his heart unto the Lord? Therefore are they blameable and without excuse, Because when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, nor gave Him thanks. But — what? But they became vain in their imaginations. Whence did they become vain, but because they were proud? Thus smoke vanishes away by rising up aloft, and a flame burns the more brightly and strongly in proportion as it is kept low; They became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. So smoke, though it rise higher than the flame, is dark.

6. Finally, mark what follows, and see the point on which the whole matter depends. For professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. For arrogating to themselves what God had given, God took away what He had given. Therefore from the proud He hid Himself, who conveyed the knowledge of Himself only to those who through the creature sought diligently after the Creator. Well then did our Lord say, You have hid these things from the wise and prudent; whether from those who in their manifold disputations, and most busy search, have reached to the full investigation of the creature, but knew nothing of the Creator, or from them who when they knew God, glorified Him not as God, nor gave Him thanks, and who could not see perfectly or healthfully because they were proud. Therefore You have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. What babes? To the lowly. Say on whom does My Spirit rest? Upon him that is lowly and quiet, and who trembles at My words. At these words Peter trembled; Plato trembled not. Let the fisherman hold fast what that most famous philosopher has lost. You have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. You have hid them from the proud, and revealed them to the humble. What things are these? For when He said this, He did not intend the heaven and earth, or point them out as it were with His hand as He spoke. For these who does not see? The good see them, the bad see them; for He makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good. What then are these things? All things are delivered unto Me of My Father.

Sermon 19 on the New Testament

[LXIX. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 19:28 , Come unto me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, etc.

1. We heard in the Gospel that the Lord, rejoicing greatly in Spirit, said to God the Father, I confess to You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things are delivered unto Me of My Father: and no man knows the Son, but the Father; neither knows any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. I have labour in talking, you in hearing: let us then both give ear to Him who goes on to say, Come unto Me, all you that labour. For why do we labour all, except that we are mortal men, frail creatures and infirm, bearing about vessels of clay which crowd and straiten one another. But if these vessels of flesh are straitened, let the open expanse of charity be enlarged. What then does He mean by, Come unto Me, all you that labour, but that you may labour no more? In a word, His promise is clear enough; forasmuch as He called those who were in labour, they might perchance enquire, for what profit they were called: and, says He, I will refresh you.

2. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; not to raise the fabric of the world, not to create all things visible and invisible, not in the world so created to work miracles and raise the dead; but, that I am meek and lowly in heart. You wish to be great, begin from the least. You are thinking to construct some mighty fabric in height; first think of the foundation of humility. And how great soever a mass of building one may wish and design to place above it, the greater the building is to be, the deeper does he dig his foundation. The building in the course of its erection, rises up on high, but he who digs its foundation, must first go down very low. So then you see even a building is low before it is high, and the top is raised only after humiliation.

3. What is the top in the erection of that building which we are constructing? Whither will the highest point of this building reach? I say at once, even to the Vision of God. You see how high, how great a thing it is to see God. Whoever longs after it, understands both what I say and what he hears. The Vision of God is promised to us, of the very God, the Supreme God. For this is good, to see Him who sees. For they who worship false gods, see them easily; but they see them who have eyes and see not. But to us is promised the Vision of the Living and the Seeing God, that we may desire eagerly to see that God of whom Scripture says, He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, does he not consider? Does He then not hear, who has made for you that whereby you hear, and does not He see, who has created that whereby you see? Well therefore in the foregoing words of this very Psalm does He say, Understand therefore ye unwise among the people, and you fools at length be wise. For many men commit evil deeds while they think they are not seen by God. And it is difficult indeed for them to believe that He cannot see them; but they think that He will not. Few are found of such great impiety, that that should be fulfilled in them which is written, The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. This is but the madness of a few. For as great piety belongs but to the few, no less also does great impiety. But the multitude of men speak thus: What! Is God thinking now upon this, that He should know what I am doing in my house, and does God care for what I may choose to do upon my bed? Who says this? Understand, you unwise among the people, and you fools at length be wise. Because as being a man, it is a labour for you to know all that takes place in your house, and for all the doings and words of your servants to reach you; do you think that it is a like labour for God to observe you, who did not labour to create you? Does not He fix His eye upon you, who made your eye? You were not, and He created you and gave you being; and does not He care for you now that you are, who calls those things which be not as though they were? Do not then promise yourself this. Whether you will or no, He sees you, and there is no place whither you can hide yourself from His eyes. For if you go up into heaven, He is there; if you go down into hell, He is there also. Great is your labour, while unwilling to depart from evil deeds: yet wishest not to be seen by God. Hard labour truly! Daily are you wishing to do evil, and do you suspect that you are not seen? Hear the Scripture which says, He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? He that formed the eye, does not He consider? Where can you hide your evil deeds from the eyes of God? If you will not depart from them, your labour is great indeed.

4. Hear Him then who says, Come unto Me, all you that labour. You can not end your labour by flying. Do you choose to fly from Him, and not rather to Him? Find out then whither you can escape, and so fly. But if you can not fly from Him, for that He is everywhere present; fly (it is quite near ) to God, who is present where you are standing. Fly. Lo in your flight you have passed the heavens, He is there; you have descended into hell, He is there; whatever deserts of the earth you shall choose, there is He, who has said, I fill heaven and earth. If then He fills heaven and earth, and there is no place whither you can fly from Him; cease this your labour, and fly to His presence, lest you feel His coming. Take courage from the hope that you shall by well-living see Him, by whom even in your evil living you are seen. For in evil living you can be seen, you can not see; but by well-living you are both seen and see. For with how much more tender nearness will He who crowns the worthy look on you, who in His pity saw you that He might call you when unworthy? Nathanael said to the Lord whom as yet he did not know, How did you know? The Lord said to him, When you were under the fig-tree I saw you. Christ saw you in your own shade; and will He not see you in His Light? For what is, When you were under the fig-tree I saw you? What does it mean? Call to mind the original sin of Adam, in whom we all die. When he first sinned, he made himself aprons of fig-leaves, signifying by these leaves the irritations of lust to which he had been reduced by sinning. Hence are we born; in this condition are we born; born in sinful flesh, which the likeness of sinful flesh alone can cure. Therefore God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. He came of this flesh, but He came not as other men. For the Virgin conceived Him not by lust, but by faith. He came into the Virgin, who was before the Virgin. He made choice of her whom He created, He created her whom He designed to choose. He brought to the Virgin fruitfulness: He took not away her unimpaired purity. He then who came to you without the irritation of the leaves of the fig-tree, when you were under the fig-tree, saw you. Make ready then to see Him in His height of glory, by whom in His pity you were seen. But because the top is high, think of the foundation. What foundation? Do you say? Learn of Him, for He is meek and lowly in heart. Dig this foundation of lowliness deep in you, and so will you attain to the crowning top of charity. Turning to the Lord, etc.

Sermon 20 on the New Testament

[LXX. Ben.]

Again on the words of the Gospel, Matthew 11:28 , Come unto me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, etc.

1. It seems strange to some, Brethren, when they hear the Lord say, Come unto Me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. And they consider that they who have fearlessly bowed their necks to this yoke, and have with much submission taken this burden upon their shoulders, are tossed about and exercised by so great difficulties in the world, that they seem not to be called from labour to rest, but from rest to labour rather; since the Apostle also says, All who will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution. So one will say, How is the yoke easy, and the burden light, when to bear this yoke and burden is nothing else, but to live godly in Christ? And how is it said, Come unto Me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you? And not rather said, Come ye who are at ease and idle, that you may labour. For so he found those men idle and at ease, whom he hired into the vineyard, that they might bear the heat of the day. And we hear the Apostle under that easy yoke and light burden say, In all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, etc., and in another place of the same Epistle, Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice have I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep: and the rest of the perils, which may be enumerated indeed, but endured they cannot be but by the help of the Holy Spirit.

2. All these grievous and heavy trials which he mentioned, did he very frequently and abundantly sustain; but in very deed the Holy Spirit was with him in the wasting of the outward man, to renew the inner man from day to day, and by the taste of spiritual rest in the affluence of the delights of God to soften down by the hope of future blessedness all present hardships, and to alleviate all heavy trials. Lo, how sweet a yoke of Christ did he bear, and how light a burden; so that he could say that all those hard and grievous sufferings at the recital of which as just above every hearer shudders, were a light tribulation; as he beheld with the inward eyes, the eyes of faith, at how great a price of things temporal must be purchased the life to come, the escape from the everlasting pains of the ungodly, the full enjoyment, free from all anxiety, of the eternal happiness of the righteous. Men suffer themselves to be cut and burnt, that the pains not of eternity, but of some more lasting sore than usual, may be bought off at the priceof severer pain. For a languid and uncertain period of a very short repose, and that too at the end of life, the soldier is worn down by all the hard trials of war, restless it may be for more years in his labours, than he will have to enjoy his rest in ease. To what storms and tempests, to what a fearful and tremendous raging of sky and sea, do the busy merchantmen expose themselves, that they may acquire riches inconstant as the wind, and full of perils and tempests, greater even than those by which they were acquired! What heats, and colds, what perils, from horses, from ditches, from precipices, from rivers, from wild beasts, do huntsmen undergo, what pain of hunger and thirst, what straitened allowances of the cheapest and meanest meat and drink, that they may catch a beast! And sometimes after all, the flesh of the beast for which they endure all this is of no use for the table. And although a boar or a stag be caught, it is more sweet to the hunter's mind because it has been caught, than it is to the eater's palate because it is dressed. By what sharp corrections of almost daily stripes is the tender age of boys brought under! By what great pains even of watching and abstinence in the schools are they exercised, not to learn true wisdom, but for the sake of riches, and the honours of an empty show, that they may learn arithmetic, and other literature, and the deceits of eloquence!

3. Now in all these instances, they who do not love these things feel them as great severities; whereas they who love them endure the same, it is true, but they do not seem to feel them severe. For love makes all, the hardest and most distressing things, altogether easy, and almost nothing. How much more surely then and easily will charity do with a view to true blessedness, that which mere desire does as it can, with a view to what is but misery? How easily is any temporal adversity endured, if it be that eternal punishment may be avoided, and eternal rest procured! Not without good reason did that vessel of election say with exceeding joy, The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. See then how it is that that yoke is easy, and that burden light. And if it be strait to the few who choose it, yet is it easy to all who love it. The Psalmist says, Because of the words of Your lips I have kept hard ways. But the things which are hard to those who labour, lose their roughness to those same men when they love. Wherefore it has been so arranged by the dispensation of the Divine goodness, that to the inner man who is renewed from day to day, placed no longer under the Law but under Grace, and freed from the burdens of numberless observances which were indeed a heavy yoke, but meetly imposed on a stubborn neck, every grievous trouble which that prince who is cast forth could inflict from without on the outward man, should through the easiness of a simple faith, and a good hope, and a holy charity, become light through the joy within. For to a good will nothing is so easy, as this good will to itself, and this is enough for God. How much soever therefore this world may rage, most truly did the angels exclaim when the Lord was born in the flesh, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will; because His yoke, who was then born, is easy, and His burden light. And as the Apostle says, God is faithful, who will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able to bear; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it.

Sermon 21 on the New Testament

[LXXI. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 12:32 , Whosoever shall speak a word against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come. Or, on the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.

1. There has been a great question raised touching the late lesson of the Gospel, to the solution of which I am unequal by any power of my own; but our sufficiency is of God, to whatever degree we are capable of receiving His aid. First then consider the magnitude of the question; that when you see the weight of it laid upon my shoulders, you may pray in aid of my labours, and in the assistance which is vouchsafed to me, may find edification for your own souls. When one possessed with a devil was brought to the Lord, blind and dumb, and He had healed him so that he could speak and see, and all the people were amazed and said, Is not this the Son of David? The Pharisees hearing it said, This fellow does not cast out devils but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself shall be brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? In these words He wished it to be understood from their own confession, that, through their not believing in Him they had chosen to belong to the kingdom of the devil, which as being divided against itself could accordingly not stand. Let then the Pharisees make choice of which they will. If Satan cannot cast out Satan, they can find nothing to say against the Lord; but if he can, then let them much more look to themselves, and depart out of his kingdom, which as being divided against itself cannot stand.

2. But now that they may not think that it is the prince of the devils in whom the Lord Jesus Christ casts out devils, let them attend to what follows; And if I, He says, by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore shall they be your judges. He spoke this undoubtedly of his disciples, the children of that people; who as being the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ were well conscious that they had learned no evil arts from their Good Master, that through the prince of the devils they should cast out devils. Therefore, He says, shall they be your judges. They, He says, the base and contemptible things of this world, in whom none of this artificial malice, but the holy simplicity of My power is seen; they shall be My witnesses, they shall be your judges. Then He subjoins, But if I by the Spirit of God cast out devils, then the kingdom of God has come unto you. What is this? If I by the Spirit of God cast out devils, He says, and your children, to whom I have given no hurtful and deceitful doctrine but a simple faith, can in no other way cast them out; no doubt the kingdom of God has come unto you; whereby the kingdom of the devil is subverted, and you also are subverted with it.

3. And after that He had said, By whom do your children cast them out? to show that in them it was His grace, not their own desert; He says, Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods, except He first bind the strong man, and then He will spoil his house? Your children, says He, who either have already believed in Me, or who shall yet believe, and cast out devils, not through the prince of the devils, but through the simplicity of holiness, who assuredly either once were, or still are what you are also, sinners and ungodly; and so in the house of the devil, and the vessels of the devil, how could they be rescued from him whom he held so firmly through the iniquity which reigned over them, unless he were bound by the chains of My justice, that I might take away from him his vessels which once were vessels of wrath, and make them vessels of mercy? This it is which the blessed Apostle also says when he rebukes the proud, and those who boast as it were of their own deserts, For who makes you to differ? That is, who makes you to differ from the mass of perdition derived from Adam and from the vessels of wrath. And that no man might say, My own righteousness, he says, What have you, that you did not receive? And on this point he says of himself also, We also once were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. So then he himself was a vessel in the house of that strong one, strong in evil, when he was a persecutor of the Church, a blasphemer, injurious, living in malice and envy, as he confesses. But He who bound the strong one, took away from him this vessel of perdition, and made it a vessel of election.

4. Afterwards, that the unbelievers and ungodly, the enemies of the Christian name, might not suppose by reason of the various heresies and schisms of those who under the Christian name gather together flocks of lost sheep, that the kingdom of Christ also is divided against itself, He next adds, He that is not with Me is against Me, and he that gathers not with Me, scatters abroad. He does not say, he who is under the outward profession of My Name; or the form of My Sacrament; but he who is not with Me is against Me. Nor does He say, he who gathers not under the outward profession of My Name; but he who gathers not with Me, scatters abroad. Christ's kingdom then is not divided against itself; but men try to divide that which was bought with the price of the Blood of Christ. For the Lord knows them that are His. And, let every one that names the Name of Christ depart from iniquity. For if he depart not from iniquity, he belongs not to the kingdom of Christ, even though he name the Name of Christ. To give then some illustrations for example's sake, the spirit of covetousness, and the spirit of luxuriousness, because the one heaps together, and the other lavishes, are divided against themselves; yet they belong both to the kingdom of the devil. Among idolaters the spirit of Juno and the spirit of Hercules, are divided against themselves; and both belong to the kingdom of the devil. The heathen Christ's enemy, and the Jew Christ's enemy, are divided against themselves; and both belong to the kingdom of the devil. Arianus and Photinianus both are heretics, and both are divided against themselves. The Donatist and Maximianist both are heretics, and both divided against themselves. All men's vices and errors that are contrary to each other are divided against themselves, and all belong to the kingdom of the devil; therefore his kingdom shall not stand. But the righteous and the ungodly, the believer and the unbeliever, the Catholic and the heretic, are indeed divided against themselves, but they do not belong all to the kingdom of Christ. The Lord knows them that are His. Let no one flatter himself upon a mere name. If he would that the Name of the Lord should profit him, let him that calls upon the Name of the Lord depart from iniquity.

5. But these words of the Gospel, though they had some obscurity, which I think by the Lord's assistance I have explained, were yet not so difficult, as that which follows would seem to be. Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaks against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. What then will become of those whom the Church desires to gain? When they have been reformed and come into the Church from whatsoever error, is the hope in the remission of all sins that is promised them a false hope? For who is not convicted of having spoken a word against the Holy Ghost, before he became a Christian or a Catholic? In the first place, are not they who are called Pagans, the worshippers of many and false gods, and the adorers of idols, forasmuch as they say that the Lord Christ wrought miracles by magical arts, are not they like these who said that He cast out devils through the prince of the devils? And again, when day by day they blaspheme our sanctification, what else blaspheme they but the Holy Ghost? What? Do not the Jews— they who spoke concerning our Lord what gave occasion to this very discourse — do they not even to the present day speak a word against the Holy Ghost, by denying that He is now in Christians, just as the others denied Him to be in Christ? For not even did they revile the Holy Ghost, by asserting either that He existed not, or that though He existed, yet that He was not God, but a creature; or that He had no power to cast out devils; they did not speak thus unworthily, or anything like it, of the Holy Ghost. For the Sadducees indeed denied the Holy Ghost; but the Pharisees maintained His existence against their heresy, but they denied that He was in the Lord Jesus Christ, who they thought cast out devils through the prince of the devils, whereas He did cast them out through the Holy Ghost. And hence, both Jews and whatsoever heretics there are who confess the Holy Ghost, but deny that He is in the Body of Christ, which is His One Only Church, none other than the One Catholic Church, are without doubt like the Pharisees who at that time although they confessed the existence of the Holy Ghost, yet denied that He was in Christ, whose works in casting out devils they attributed to the prince of devils. I say nothing of the fact that some heretics either boldly maintain that the Holy Ghost is not the Creator but a creature, as the Arians, and Eunomians, and Macedonians, or so entirely deny His existence, as to deny that God is Trinity, but assert that He is God the Father only, and that He is sometimes called the Son, and sometimes the Holy Ghost; as the Sabellians, whom some call Patripassians, because they hold that the Father suffered; and forasmuch as they deny that He has any Son, without doubt they deny His Holy Spirit also. The Photinians again who say that the Father only is God, and the Son a mere man, deny altogether that there is any third Person of the Holy Ghost.

6. It is plain then that the Holy Ghost is blasphemed both by Pagans, and by Jews, and by heretics. Are they then to be left, and accounted without all hope, since the sentence is fixed, Whosoever speaks a word against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come? And are they only to be deemed free from the guilt of this most grievous sin who are Catholics from infancy? For all those who have believed the word of God, that they might become Catholics, came surely into the grace and peace of Christ, either from among the Pagans, or Jews, or heretics: and if there be no pardon for them for the word which they have spoken against the Holy Ghost, in vain do we promise and preach to men, to turn to God, and receive peace and remission of sins, whether in Baptism or in the Church. For it is not said, It shall not be forgiven him except in baptism; but, it shall not be forgiven, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.

7. Some think that they only sin against the Holy Ghost, who having been washed in the laver of regeneration in the Church, and having received the Holy Spirit, as though unthankful for so great a gift of the Saviour, have plunged themselves afterwards into any deadly sin; as adultery, or murder, or an absolute apostasy, either altogether from the Christian name, or from the Catholic Church. But how this sense of it may be proved, I know not; since the place of repentance is not denied in the Church to any sins whatever; and the Apostle says that heretics themselves are to be reproved to this end, If God perhaps will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. For what is the advantage of amendment without any hope of forgiveness? Finally, The Lord did not say, the baptized Catholic who shall speak a word against the Holy Ghost; but he who, that is whosoever speaks, be he who he may, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. Whether then he be a heathen, or a Jew, or a Christian, or a heretic from among Jews or Christians, or whatsoever other title of error he have, it is not said, this man, or that man; but whosoever speaks a word against the Holy Ghost, that is who blasphemes the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. But moreover if every error contrary to truth, and inimical to Christian peace, as we have shown before, speaks a word against the Holy Ghost; and yet the Church does not cease to reform and gather out of every error those who shall receive remission of sins, and the Holy Ghost Himself, whom they have blasphemed; I think I have discovered an important secret for the clearing up this so great a question. Let us seek then from the Lord the light of explanation.

8. Lift up then, Brethren, lift up unto me your ears, and your hearts unto the Lord. I tell you, my Beloved; perhaps there is not in all holy Scripture found a more important or more difficult question. Wherefore (that I may make you a confession about myself), I have always in my discourses to the people avoided the difficulty and embarrassment of this question; not because I had no ideas of any sort on the subject, for in a matter of such great importance, I would not be negligent in asking, and seeking, and knocking; but because I did not think I could do justice to that understanding of it which was in some degree opened to me, by words suggested at the moment. But as I listened to today's lesson, upon which it was my duty to discourse to you, as the Gospel was being read, there was such a beating at my heart, that I believed that it was God's will that you should hear something on the subject by my ministry.

9. First then, I pray you to consider and understand that the Lord did not say, No blasphemy of the Spirit shall be forgiven, or, whosoever speaks any word whatsoever against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him; but whosoever speaks a word; for had he said the former, there would have remained to us no subject of disputation at all. Since if no blasphemy, and no word which is spoken against the Holy Ghost, shall be forgiven unto men; the Church could not gain any one out of all the classes of ungodly sinners who gainsay the gift of Christ, and the sanctification of the Church, whether Jews, or heathens, or heretics of whatsoever sort, and some even of little knowledge in the Catholic Church itself. But God forbid that the Lord should say this: God forbid, I say, that the Truth should say that every blasphemy and every word which should be spoken against the Holy Ghost, has no forgiveness neither in this world, neither in the world to come.

10. His will indeed was to exercise us by the difficulty of the question, not to deceive us by a false decision. Wherefore there is no necessity for any one to think, that every blasphemy or every word which is spoken against the Holy Ghost has no remission; but necessary it plainly is, that there should be some certain blasphemy, and some word which if it be spoken against the Holy Ghost can never attain to pardon and forgiveness. For if we take it to mean every word, who then can be saved? But if again we think there is no such word, we contradict the Saviour. There is then without doubt some certain blasphemy and some word which if it be spoken against the Holy Ghost, shall not be forgiven. Now what this word is, it is the Lord's will we should enquire; and therefore He has not expressed it. His will, I say, was that it should be enquired into, not denied. For the style of the Scriptures is often such, that when anything is so expressed as not to be limited either to a universal or particular signification, it is not necessary that it should be understood universally, and not particularly. This proposition then would be expressed in its whole extent, that is, universally, if it were said, All blasphemy of the Spirit shall not be forgiven; or, Whosoever speaks any word whatsoever against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. But it would be expressed partially, that is, particularly, if it were said, Some certain blasphemy of the Spirit shall not be forgiven. But because this proposition is laid down neither in a universal, nor a particular form (for it is not said, Every blasphemy; or some certain blasphemy of the Spirit; but only indefinitely, blasphemy of the Spirit shall not be forgiven; neither is it said, Whosoever speaks any word whatever, or whosoever speaks some certain word, but indefinitely, whosoever speaks a word), there is no necessity that we should understand every blasphemy and every word; but necessary it plainly is that the Lord designed some kind of blasphemy, and some word to be understood; though He would not express it, that, if we should receive any right understanding of it by asking, and seeking, and knocking, we might not entertain a low esteem of it.

11. In order to seeing this more plainly, consider that which the same Lord also says of the Jews, If I had not come and spoken to them, they had not had sin. For this again was not said with any such meaning, as if He intended it to be understood that the Jews would have been without any sin at all, if He had not come and spoken to them. For indeed He found them full of and laden with sins. Wherefore He says, Come unto Me, all you that labour and are heavy laden. Laden! With what, but with the burdens of sins and transgressions of the Law? For the Law entered that sin might abound. Since then He says Himself in another place, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance; how would they not have had sin if He had not come? If it be not that this proposition being expressed neither universally, nor particularly, but indefinitely, does not constrain us to understand it of all sin? But certainly unless we understand that there was some sin which they would not have had if Christ had not come and spoken unto them, we must say that the proposition was false, which God forbid. He does not say then, If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had had no sin; lest the Truth should lie. Nor again did He say definitely, If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had some certain sin; lest our devout earnestness should not be exercised. For in the full abundance of the Holy Scriptures we feed upon the plain parts, we are exercised by the obscure: by the one, hunger is driven away, and daintiness by the other. Seeing then that it is not said, they had had no sin, we need not be disturbed, though we acknowledge that the Jews would have been sinners, even if the Lord had not come. But yet because it is said, If I had not come, they had not had sin; it must needs be that they contracted, though not all, yet some sin which they had not before, from the coming of the Lord. And this verily is that sin, that they believed not in Him who was present with and spoke to them, and that counting Him as an enemy because He spoke the truth, they put Him besides to death. This sin so great and terrible it is clear they had not had if He had not come and spoken to them. As then when we hear the words, They had not had sin; we do not understand all, but some, sin; so when we hear in today's lesson, Blasphemy of the Spirit shall not be forgiven; we understand not all, but a certain kind of blasphemy; and when we hear, Whosoever speaks a word against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him; we ought not to understand every, but some certain word.

12. For in that He says also in this very text, But blasphemy of the Spirit shall not be forgiven; surely we must needs understand not blasphemy of every spirit, but the Holy Spirit. And though He had not expressed this anywhere else more plainly, who could be so silly as to understand it in any other way? According to the same rule of speech is this expression also understood, Unless a man be born of water and of the Spirit. For He does not say in that place, and of the Holy Spirit; yet this is understood. Nor because He said of water and of the Spirit, is any one forced to understand it of every spirit. Wherefore when you hear, But the blasphemy of the Spirit shall not be forgiven; as you must not understand it of every spirit, so not of every blasphemy against the Spirit.

13. I see that you are now wishing to hear, since it is not every blasphemy of the Spirit, what that blasphemy is which shall not be forgiven, and what that word is, since it is not every word which if it shall be spoken against the Holy Ghost, shall not be forgiven neither in this world, neither in the world to come. And for my part I should be willing to tell you at once, what you are so very intently waiting to hear; but bear for a while the delay which a more careful diligence requires, till by the Lord's assistance I shall unfold the whole meaning of the passage before us. Now the other two Evangelists, Mark and Luke, when they spoke of the same thing, did not say blasphemy or a word, that we might understand it not of every blasphemy, but of some sort of blasphemy; not every word, but some certain word. What then did they say? In Mark it is thus written, Verily I say unto you, all sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies, where-withsoever they shall blaspheme. But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, has never forgiveness, but shall be held guilty of an eternal offense. In Luke it is thus: And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but unto him that blasphemes against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven. Is there any departure from the truth of the same proposition because of some diversity in the expression? For indeed there is no other reason why the Evangelists do not relate the same things in the same way, but that we may learn thereby to prefer things to words, not words to things, and to seek for nothing else in the speaker, but for his intention, to convey which only the words are used. For what real difference is there whether it is said, Blasphemy of the Spirit shall not be forgiven; or he that blasphemes against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him. Except perhaps that the same thing is declared more plainly in this last than in the other form; and so one Evangelist does not overthrow, but explains the other. Now blasphemy of the Spirit is an unevident expression; because it is not directly said what spirit; for every spirit is not the Holy Spirit. Thus it might be called blasphemy of the spirit, when a man blasphemes with the spirit; as that may be called prayer of the spirit, when one prays with the spirit. Whence the Apostle says, I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also. But when it is said, he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, these ambiguities are removed. So the expression, has never forgiveness, but shall be held guilty of an eternal offense; what is it, but what according to Matthew is expressed, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come? The very same idea is expressed in different words and different forms of speech. And what is in Matthew, Whosoever speaks a word against the Holy Ghost, that we might not understand it of anything but blasphemy, others have more clearly expressed, He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost. Yet the same thing is said by all; nor did any one of them depart from the intention of the Speaker, for the sake of understanding which only are words spoken, and written, and read, and heard.

14. But one may say, See I have admitted and understood that where the word blasphemy is used, and neither all, nor some certain blasphemy expressed, it may be understood either of all, or of some certain blasphemy, but not necessarily of all; but again if it be not understood of some, that that which is said would be untrue: so again if it is not said every or some certain word, it is not necessary that every word should be understood, but unless some word be understood, in no way can what is said be true. But when we read, He that shall blaspheme, how can I understand any certain blasphemy, when the word blasphemy is not used, or any certain word, when the word word is not used, but it seems to be said as it were generally, He that shall blaspheme. To this objection I reply thus. If it were said in this passage also, He that shall blaspheme with any kind of blasphemy whatever against the Holy Ghost, there would be no reason why we should think that some particular blasphemy was to be sought for, when we ought rather to understand all blasphemy; but because all blasphemy could not be meant, lest the hope of forgiveness in case of their amendment should be taken away from heathens, and Jews, and heretics, and all kinds of men, who by their various errors and contradictions blaspheme against the Holy Ghost; it remains without a doubt, that in the passage where it is written, He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost has never forgiveness, he must be meant, not who has in any way whatever blasphemed; but he who has blasphemed in such a particular way, that he can never be pardoned.

15. For as in that it is said, God tempts no man, it is not to be understood that God tempts no man with any kind, but only not with some certain kind of temptation; lest that be false, which is written, The Lord your God tempts you; and lest we deny that Christ is God, or say that the Gospel is false, when we read that He asked His disciple tempting him; but He Himself knew what He would do. For there is a temptation which induces to sin, with which God tempts no man, and there is a temptation which only proves our faith, with which even God vouchsafes to tempt. So when we hear, He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, we must not take it of every kind of blasphemy, as neither in the other place, of every kind of temptation.

16. So again when we hear, He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; we do not of course understand it of one who believes in such a way as the devils believe and tremble; nor of those who receive baptism in such sort as Simon Magus, who though he could be baptized, could not be saved. As then when He said, He that believes and is baptized shall be saved, He had not in his view all who believe and are baptized, but some only; those, to wit, who are settled in that faith, which, according to the Apostle's distinction, works by love: so when he said, He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost has never forgiveness, he did not intend every kind, but a specific sin of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, by which whosoever shall be bound, he shall never by any remission be loosed.

17. That expression also of His, He that eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood dwells in Me, and I in him, how must we understand? Can we include in these words those even of whom the Apostle says, that they eat and drink judgment to themselves; when they eat this flesh and drink this blood? What! Did Judas the impious seller and betrayer of his Master (though, as Luke the Evangelist declares more plainly, he ate and drank with the rest of His disciples this first Sacrament of His body and blood, consecrated by the Lord's hands), did he dwell in Christ and Christ in him? Do so many, in fine, who either in hypocrisy eat that flesh and drink that blood, or who after they have eaten and drunk become apostate, do they dwell in Christ or Christ in them? Yet assuredly there is a certain manner of eating that Flesh and drinking that Blood, in which whosoever eats and drinks, he dwells in Christ and Christ in him. As then he does not dwell in Christ and Christ in him, who eats the Flesh and drinks the Blood of Christ in any manner whatsoever, but only in some certain manner, to which He doubtless had regard when He spoke these words. So in this expression also, He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost has never forgiveness, he is not guilty of this unpardonable sin, who shall blaspheme in any way whatever, but in that particular way, which it is His will, who uttered this true and terrible sentence, that we should seek out and understand.

18. Now as to what that mode, or immoderateness rather, of blasphemy is, what that particular blasphemy, and what that word against the Holy Ghost, the order of my discourse requires me to say what I think, and not to put off any longer your expectation which has been so long but so necessarily deferred. You know, Dearly beloved, that in that invisible and incorruptible Trinity, which our faith and the Church Catholic maintains and preaches, God the Father is not the Father of the Holy Spirit, but of the Son; and that God the Son is not the Son of the Holy Spirit, but of the Father; but that God the Holy Spirit is the Spirit not of the Father only, or of the Son only, but of the Father and the Son. And that this Trinity, although the Property and particular Subsistence of each person is preserved, is yet, because of the undivided and inseparable Essence or Nature of Eternity, Truth, and Goodness, not three Gods but One God. And by this means, according to our capacity, and as far as it is granted us to see these things through a glass darkly, especially being such as we now are, there is conveyed to us the idea of Origination in the Father, Nativity in the Son, and the Communion of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit, and in the Three Equality. By That then which is the Bond of communion between the Father and the Son, it is Their pleasure that we should have communion both among ourselves and with Them, and to gather us together in one by that same Gift, which One They both have, that is, by the Holy Spirit, at once God and the Gift of God. For in This are we reconciled to the Divinity, and take delight in It. For what would the knowledge of whatever good we know profit us, unless we also loved it? But as it is by the truth that we learn, so is it by charity that we love, that so we may attain also to a fuller knowledge, and enjoy in blessedness what we know. Love moreover is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. And because it is through sin that we are alienated from the possession of true good, Love covers a multitude of sins. So then the Father is Himself the True Origin to the Son, who is the Truth, and the Son is the Truth, originating from the True Father, and the Holy Spirit is Goodness, shed abroad from the Good Father and the Good Son; but in all Three the Divinity is equal, and the Unity Inseparable.

19. First then in order to our receiving eternal life which shall be given at the last, there comes to us a gift from God's goodness from the beginning of our faith, to wit, the remission of sins. For while they remain, there remains in some sort enmity against God, and alienation from Him, which comes from what is evil in us; since Scripture does not speak falsely, which says, Your sins separate between you and God. He does not then bestow on us His good things, except He take away our evil things. And the former increase in proportion as the latter are diminished; nor will the one be perfected, till the other be brought to an end. But now that the Lord Jesus forgives sins by the Holy Ghost, just as by the Holy Ghost He casts out devils, may be understood by this, that after His Resurrection from the dead, when He had said to His disciples, Receive the Holy Ghost, He immediately subjoined, Whosesoever sins ye remit, they shall be remitted unto them, and whosesoever sins ye retain, they shall be retained. For that regeneration also, in which there is a remission of all past sins, is wrought by the Holy Ghost, as the Lord says, Unless a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. But it is one thing to be born of the Spirit, another to be nourished by the Spirit; just as it is one thing to be born of the flesh, which happens when the mother is delivered of her child; another to be nourished by the flesh, which happens when she gives suck to her infant, who turns himself that he may drink with pleasure there whence he was born, to have life; that he may receive the support of life from thence, whence he received the beginning of his birth. We must believe then that the first blessing of God's goodness in the Holy Ghost is the remission of sins. Whence the preaching of John the Baptist, who was sent as the forerunner of the Lord, also begins with it. For thus it is written, In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judæa, saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Hence too the beginning of our Lord's preaching, as we read, From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now John, among the other things which he spoke to those who came to be baptized by him, said, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but He that comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. The Lord also said, John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence, even at Pentecost. Now as to John's expression, with fire, though tribulation also might be understood, which believers were to suffer for the name of Christ; yet may we reasonably think that the same Holy Spirit is signified also under the name of fire. Wherefore when He came it is said, And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. Hence also the Lord Himself said, I have come to send fire on the earth. Hence also the Apostle says, Fervent in the spirit; for from Him comes the fervour of love. For it is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. And the contrary to this fervour is what the Lord said, The love of many shall wax cold. Now perfect love is the perfect gift of the Holy Spirit. But the first gift is that which is concerned with the remission of sins; by which blessing we are delivered from the power of darkness; and the prince of this world, who works in the children of disobedience by no other power than the fellowship and the bond of sin, is cast out by our faith. For by the Holy Spirit, by whom the people of God are gathered together into one, is the unclean spirit who is divided against himself cast out.

20. Against this gratuitous gift, against this grace of God, does the impenitent heart speak. This impenitence then is the blasphemy of the Spirit, which shall not be forgiven, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. For against the Holy Spirit, by whom they whose sins are all forgiven are baptized, and whom the Church has received, that whosesoever sins she remits, they may be remitted, does he speak, whether in the thought only, or also in the tongue, a very heinous and exceedingly ungodly word, who when the patience of God leads him to repentance, after his hardness and impenitent heart treasures up unto himself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds. This impenitence then, for so by some one general name may we call both this blasphemy and the word against the Holy Ghost which has no forgiveness for ever; this impenitence, I say, against which both the herald and the Judge cried out, saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand; against which the Lord first opened the mouth of the Gospel preaching, and against which He foretold that the same Gospel was to be preached in all the world, when He said to His disciples after His resurrection from the dead, it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem: this impenitence, in one word, has no forgiveness neither in this world, nor in the world to come; for that repentance only obtains forgiveness in this world, that it may have its effect in the world to come.

21. But this impenitence or impenitent heart may not be pronounced upon, as long as a man lives in the flesh. For we are not to despair of any so long as the patience of God leads the ungodly to repentance, and does not hurry him out of this life; God, who wills not the death of a sinner, but that he should return from his ways and live. He is a heathen today; but how do you know whether he may not be a Christian tomorrow? He is a heretic today; but what if tomorrow he follow the Catholic truth? He is a schismatic today; but what if tomorrow he embrace Catholic peace? What if they, whom you observe now in any kind of error that can be, and whom you condemn as in most desperate case, what if before they end this life, they repent and find the true life in that which is to come? Wherefore, Brethren, let also what the Apostle says urge you to this. Judge nothing before the time. For this blasphemy of the Spirit, for which there is no forgiveness (which I have understood to be not every kind of blasphemy, but a particular sort, and that as I have said or discovered, or even as I think clearly shown to be the case, the persevering hardness of an impenitent heart), cannot be taken hold of in any one, I repeat it, as long as he is still in this life.

22. And let it not seem absurd, that whereas a man who perseveres in hardened impenitence even to the end of this life, speaks long and much against this grace of the Holy Spirit; yet the Gospel has called this so long contradiction of an impenitent heart, as though it were something of short duration, a word, saying, Whosoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaks against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. For though this blasphemy be long continued, and made up of, and drawn out at length in very many words, yet it is the manner of Scripture to call even many words a word. For no prophet ever spoke one word only; yet we read, the word which came to such and such a prophet. And the Apostle says, Let the elders be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine. He does not say, in words, but, in the word. And St. James, Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. He again does not say, of the words, but, of the word; although so many words out of the Holy Scriptures are read, and spoken, and heard in the Church at her celebrations and solemnities. As therefore, how long a time soever any of us have laboured in preaching the Gospel, he is not called a preacher of the words, but of the word; and how long time soever any of you may have attentively and diligently listened to our preaching, he is called a most earnest hearer not of the words, but of the word; so after the style of the Scripture and the custom of the Church, whoever throughout his whole life in the flesh, to whatever length it may be extended, shall have spoken no matter how many words, whether by mouth, or the thought only with an impenitent heart, against that remission of sins which is granted in the Church, he speaks a word against the Holy Ghost.

23. Therefore not only every word spoken against the Son of Man, but, in fact, every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; because where there is not this sin of an impenitent heart against the Holy Ghost, by whom sins are remitted in the Church, all other sins are forgiven. But how shall that sin be forgiven, which hinders the forgiveness of other sins also? All sins then are forgiven to them in whom is not this sin, which shall never be forgiven; but to him in whom it is, since this sin is never forgiven, neither are other sins forgiven; because the remission of all is hindered by the bond of this one. It is not then that whosoever speaks a word against the Son of Man shall be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven, for that in the Trinity the Holy Ghost is greater than the Son, which no heretic even has ever maintained; but since whosoever he be that resists the truth and blasphemes the Truth, which is Christ, even after such a manifestation of Himself among men, as that the Word who is the Son of Man and very Christ, became flesh and dwelt among us; if he have not also spoken that word of the impenitent heart against the Holy Ghost, of whom it is said, Unless a man be born of water and of the Spirit; and again, Receive the Holy Ghost; whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them; that is, if he shall repent, he shall thereby receive the gift of the remission of all his sins, and of this also, that he has spoken a word against the Son of Man, because to the sin of ignorance, or obstinacy, or blasphemy of whatever kind, he has not added the sin of impenitence against the gift of God, and the grace of regeneration or reconciliation, which is conferred in the Church by the Holy Spirit.

24. Wherefore, neither must we imagine, as some do, that the word which is spoken against the Son of Man is forgiven, but that which is spoken against the Holy Ghost is not forgiven, because Christ became the Son of Man by reason of His assuming flesh, in which respect the Holy Ghost of course is greater, who in His Own Substance is equal to the Father and the Only-begotten Son according to His Divinity, according to which also the Only-begotten Son Himself is equal to the Father and the Holy Spirit. For if this were the reason, surely nothing would have been said of any other kind of blasphemy, that that only might appear capable of forgiveness, which is spoken against the Son of Man, regarded only as man. But forasmuch as it is first said, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; which in another Evangelist is also thus expressed, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewithsoever they shall blaspheme; without doubt, that blasphemy also which is spoken against the Father is included in that general expression; and yet that alone is laid down as unpardonable, which is spoken against the Holy Ghost. What! Did the Father also take the form of a servant, that in this respect the Holy Ghost should be greater than He? No surely: but after the universal mention of all sins and of all blasphemy, He wished to express more prominently the blasphemy which is spoken against the Son of Man for this reason, because although men should be even bound in that sin which He mentioned when He said, If I had not come and spoken to them, they had not had sin: which sin also in the Gospel according to John He shows to be a very grievous one, when He says of the Holy Spirit Himself, when He promised that He would send Him, He shall reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believed not on Me: yet if that hardness of the impenitent heart have not spoken a word against the Holy Ghost, even this which is spoken against the Son of Man shall be forgiven.

25. Here perhaps some one may ask, whether the Holy Ghost only forgives sins, and not the Father and the Son also? I answer, Both the Father and the Son forgive them. For the Son Himself says of the Father, If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. And we say to Him in the Lord's Prayer, Our Father, which art in heaven. And among the other petitions we ask this, saying, Forgive us our debts. And again of Himself He says, That ye may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins. If then, you will say, The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit forgive sins, why is that impenitence which shall never be forgiven, said to relate only to the blasphemy of the Spirit, as though he who should be bound in this sin of impenitence should seem to resist the gift of the Holy Spirit, because by that gift is wrought the remission of sins? Now on this point, I will also ask, Whether Christ only cast out devils, or the Father and the Holy Spirit also? For if Christ only, what means His saying, The Father that dwells in Me, He does the works. For so it is said, He does the works, as if the Son does them not, but the Father who dwells in the Son. Why then in another place does He say, My Father works hitherto, and I work. And a little after, For whatever things He does, these also does the Son likewise. But when in another place He says, If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, He speaks as if He did them alone. Now if these things are so expressed, as that nevertheless the works of the Father and the Son are inseparable, what must we believe of the Holy Spirit, but that He also works equally with them? For in that very place, from which this question arose which we are discussing, when the Son was casting out devils, He yet said, If I in the Holy Spirit cast out devils, then the kingdom of God has come unto you.

26. And here perhaps one may say, That the Holy Spirit is rather given by the Father and the Son, than that He works anything by His own will, and that this is the scope of the words, In the Holy Spirit I cast out devils, because not the Spirit Himself, but Christ in the Spirit, did it; so that the expression, I cast out in the Holy Spirit, might be understood as if it were said, I cast out by the Holy Spirit. For this is the usual style of the Scriptures, They killed in the sword, that is, by the sword. They burnt in the fire, that is, by the fire. And Joshua took knives of flints, in which to circumcise, that is, by which to circumcise, the children of Israel. But let those who on this account take from the Holy Spirit His proper power, look to that which we read to have been spoken by the Lord, The Spirit blows where It lists. And as to what the Apostle says, But all these works that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will; it might be feared, lest one imagine that the Father and the Son do not work them: whereas among these works he has expressly mentioned both the gifts of healings, and the workings of miracles, in which surely is included also the driving out of devils. But when he adds the words, Dividing to every man severally as He will; does he not clearly show also the Power of the Holy Spirit, yet as plainly inseparable from the Father and the Son? If then these things are so expressed, as that notwithstanding the operation of the Trinity is understood to be inseparable: so that when the operation of the Father is spoken of, it is understood that He does not exercise it without the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and when the operation of the Son is spoken of, it is not without the Father and the Holy Spirit; and when the operation of the Holy Spirit is spoken of, it is not without the Father and the Son; it is sufficiently clear to those who have a sound faith, or who even understand as they best can, both that the words, He does the works, are spoken of the Father, in that from Him is also the first principle of the works, from whom is the existence of the Persons who co-operate in working: for that both the Son is born of Him, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from Him, as the First Beginning, of whom the Son is born, and with whom He has one Spirit in common; and again that when the Lord said, If I had not done among them the works which none other did, He did not speak in reference to the Father and the Spirit, as that They did not co-operate with Him in those works; but to men by whom we read of many miracles having been done, but by none such miracles as the Son did. And what the Apostle says of the Holy Spirit, But all these works that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will, is not said, because the Father and the Son do not co-operate with Him; but because in these works there are not many spirits, but One Spirit, and in His various operations He is not diverse from Himself.

27. And yet it is not without cause, but with reason and with truth said, that the Father, and not the Son and the Holy Spirit, said, You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Nevertheless, we do not deny that the Son and the Holy Spirit co-operated in working this miracle of the voice sounding from heaven, though we know that it belongs to the Person of the Father only. For though the Son bearing flesh, was there conversing with men on earth, He was not the less on that account in the Bosom of the Father also as the Only-Begotten Word, when that Voice came out of the cloud; nor could it be either wisely and through the Spirit believed, that God the Father separated the operation of these audible and passing words from the co-operation of His Wisdom and His Spirit. In the same way when we say most rightly, that not the Father, nor the Holy Spirit, but the Son walked upon the sea, who only had that flesh and those feet which rested on the waves; yet who would deny that the Father and the Holy Spirit co-operated in the work of so great a miracle? For so again we say most truly that the Son only took this our flesh, not the Father, nor the Holy Spirit, and yet he has no true wisdom who denies that the Father, or the Holy Spirit co-operated in the work of His Incarnation which belongs only to the Son. So also we say that neither the Father, nor the Son, but the Holy Spirit only appeared both in the form of a dove, and in tongues as it were of fire; and gave to those to whom He came the power to tell in many and various tongues the wonderful works of God; and yet from this miracle which regards the Holy Spirit only, we cannot separate the co-operation of the Father and the Only-Begotten Word. So also the Whole Trinity work the works of each several Person in the Trinity, the Two co-operating in the work of the Other, through a perfect harmony of operation in the Three, and not through any deficiency of the power to work effectually in One. And since this is so, hence it is that the Lord Jesus cast out devils in the Holy Spirit. Not that He was not able to accomplish this alone, or that He assumed that aid as being insufficient for this work; but it was meet that the spirit who is divided against himself should be driven out by that Spirit, which the Father and the Son who are not divided in themselves have in common.

28. And thus sins, because they are not forgiven out of the Church, must be forgiven by that Spirit, by whom the Church is gathered together into one. In fact, if any one out of the Church repent him of his sins, and for this so great sin whereby he is an alien from the Church of God, has an heart impenitent, what does that other repentance profit him? Seeing by this alone he speaks a word against the Holy Ghost, whereby he is alienated from the Church, which has received this gift, that in her remission of sins should be given in the Holy Ghost? Which remission though it be the work of the Whole Trinity, is yet understood specially to belong to the Holy Spirit. For He is the Spirit of the adoption of sons, in whom we cry Abba, Father; that we may be able to say to Him, Forgive us our debts. And, Hereby we know as the Apostle John says, that Christ dwells in us, by His Spirit which He has given us. The Spirit Itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. For to Him appertains the fellowship, by which we are made the one body of the One only Son of God. Whence it is written, If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit. With a view to this fellowship they to whom He first came spoke with the tongues of all nations. Because as by tongues the fellowship of mankind is more closely united; so it behooved that this fellowship of the sons of God and members of Christ which was to be among all nations should be signified by the tongues of all nations; that as at that time he was known to have received the Holy Ghost, who spoke with the tongues of all nations; so now he should acknowledge that he has received the Holy Ghost, who is held by the bond of the peace of the Church, which is spread throughout all nations. Whence the Apostle says, Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

29. Now that He is the Spirit of the Father, the Son Himself says, He proceeds from the Father. And in another place, For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you. And that He is the Spirit of the Son also the Apostle says, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba Father; that is, making you cry. For it is we that cry; but in Him, that is, by His shedding abroad love in our hearts, without which whoever cries, cries in vain. Whence he says again, If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. To which Person then in the Trinity could the communion of this fellowship peculiarly appertain, but to that Spirit which is common to the Father and the Son?

30. That they who have separated from the Church have not this Spirit, the Apostle Jude has declared most plainly, saying, Who separate themselves, natural, having not the Spirit. Whence the Apostle Paul reproving those even in the Church itself, who by the names of men, though having a place in her unity, were raising a kind of schism, says among other things, But the natural man perceives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. This shows his meaning, does not perceive, that is does not receive the word of knowledge. These as having a place in the Church, he speaks of as babes, not yet spiritual, but still carnal, and such as are to be fed with milk, not with meat. Even, he says, as unto babes in Christ, have I given you milk and not meat; for hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither yet now are you able. When we say, not yet, we must not despair, if that which is not yet tends to be. For he says, you are yet carnal. And showing how it is that they are carnal, he says, For whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are you not carnal, and walk as men? And again more plainly, For while one says, I am of Paul, and another, I of Apollos, are you not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom you believed? These then, that is, Paul and Apollos, agreed together in the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace; and yet because the Corinthians began to divide them among themselves, and to be puffed up for one against another, they are said to be men — carnal and natural men, not able to receive the things of the Spirit of God; and yet because they are not separated from the Church, they are called babes in Christ; for indeed he desired that they should be either Angels, or even Gods, whom he reproved because they were men, that is, in those contentions, They savoured not the things which be of God, but the things which be of men. But of those who are separated from the Church it is not merely said, perceiving not the things of the Spirit of God, lest it should be referred to the perception of knowledge; but it is said, Having not the Spirit. For it does not follow, that he who has it, should also by knowledge perceive what he has.

31. The babes then in Christ who have yet place in the Church, who are still natural and carnal, and cannot perceive, that is, understand and know what they have, have this Spirit. For how could they be babes in Christ except they were born anew of the Holy Spirit? Nor ought it to seem any wonder that one may have something, and yet not know what he has. For to say nothing of the Divinity of the Almighty, and the Unity of the Unchangeable Trinity, who can easily perceive by knowledge what the soul is; and yet who is there that has not a soul? Finally, that we may know most certainly that babes in Christ, who do not perceive the things of the Spirit of God, have notwithstanding the Spirit of God; let us look how the Apostle Paul, when a little while after he is rebuking them, says, Do you not know that you are the temples of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you? This surely he would in no wise say to those who are separated from the Church, who are described as having not the Spirit.

32. But neither can he be said to be in the Church, and to belong to that fellowship of the Spirit, who is mixed up with Christ's sheep by a bodily intercourse only in deceitfulness of heart. For the Holy Spirit of discipline will flee deceit. Wherefore whosoever are baptized in the congregations or separations rather of schismatics or heretics, although they have not been born again of the Spirit, like as it were to Ishmael, who was Abraham's son after the flesh; not like Isaac, who was his son after the Spirit, because by promise; yet when they come to the Catholic Church, and are joined to the fellowship of the Spirit which without the Church they beyond doubt had not, the washing of the flesh is not repeated in their case. For this form of godliness was not wanting to them even when they were without; but there is added to them the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, which cannot be given but within. Before they were Catholics indeed, they were as they of whom the Apostle says, Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. For the visible form of the branch may exist even when separated from the vine; but the invisible life of the root cannot be had, but in the vine. Wherefore the bodily sacraments, which even they who are separated from the Unity of Christ's Body bear and celebrate, may give the form of godliness; but the invisible and spiritual power of godliness cannot in any wise be in them, just as sensation does not accompany a man's limb, when it is amputated from the body.

33. And since this is so, remission of sins, seeing it is not given but by the Holy Spirit, can only be given in that Church which has the Holy Spirit. For this is the effect of the remission of sins, that the prince of sin, the spirit who is divided against himself, should no more reign in us, and that being delivered from the power of the unclean spirit, we should thenceforward be made the temple of the Holy Spirit, and receive Him, by whom we are cleansed through receiving pardon, to dwell in us, to work, increase, and perfect righteousness. For at His first coming, when they who had received Him spoke with the tongues of all nations, and the Apostle Peter addressed those who were present in amazement, they were pricked in heart, and said to Peter and to the rest of the Apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? show us. And Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. In the Church truly in which was the Holy Ghost, were both brought to pass, that is, both the remission of sins, and the receiving of this gift. And therefore was it In the Name of Jesus Christ; because when He promised the same Holy Ghost; He said, Whom the Father will send in My Name. For the Spirit dwells in no man without the Father and the Son; as neither does the Son without the Father and the Holy Spirit, nor the Father without them. Their indwelling is inseparable, as their operation is inseparable; but sometimes they manifest themselves separately by symbols borrowed from the creatures, not in their own substance; just as they are pronounced separately by the voice in syllables which occupy separately their own spaces, and yet they are not separated from each other by any intervals, or moments of time. For they never can be pronounced together, whereas they can never exist, except together. But as I have already said, and not once only, the remission of sins, whereby the kingdom of the spirit which is divided against himself is overthrown and driven out, and the fellowship of the unity of the Church of God, out of which this remission of sins is not, are regarded as the peculiar work of the Holy Spirit, with the cooperation doubtless of the Father and the Son, because the Holy Spirit is Himself in some sort the fellowship of the Father and the Son. For the Father is not possessed as Father by the Son and the Holy Spirit in common; because He is not the Father of Both. And the Son is not possessed as Son by the Father and the Holy Spirit in common; because He is not the Son of Both. But the Holy Spirit is possessed as the Spirit by the Father and the Son in common, because He is the One Spirit of Both.

34. Whosoever therefore shall be guilty of impenitence against the Spirit, in whom the unity and fellowship of the communion of the Church is gathered together, shall never have forgiveness; because he has stopped the source of forgiveness against himself, and deservedly shall he be condemned with the spirit, which is divided against himself, who is himself also divided against the Holy Spirit which is not divided against Himself. And of this the very testimonies of the Gospel warn us, would we with good attention search them. For according to Luke the Lord does not say, That he who blasphemes against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven: in that place where He is answering those who said that He cast out devils by the prince of the devils. Whence it would seem that this was not said once only by the Lord; but we must not carelessly pass over the consideration of the occasion on which this last also was spoken. For He was speaking of those who should have confessed or denied Him before men, when He said, Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess Me before men, him shall the Son of Man also confess before the Angels of God. But he that denies Me before men, shall be denied before the angels of God. And lest from this the salvation of the Apostle Peter should be despaired of, he immediately subjoined, And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but unto him that blasphemes against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven; blasphemes, that is, with that blasphemy of an impenitent heart, by which resistance is made to remission of sins which is granted in the Church by the Holy Ghost. And this blasphemy Peter had not, who presently repented, when he wept bitterly, and who after he had overcome the spirit who is divided against himself, and who had desired to have him to harass him, and against whom the Lord prayed for him that his faith might not fail, even received the Very Holy Spirit whom he resisted not, that not only his sin might be forgiven him, but that through him remission of sins might be preached and dispensed.

35. And in the narrative of the two other Evangelists, the occasion of speaking out this sentence of the blasphemy of the Spirit arose from the mention of the unclean spirit, who is divided against himself. For it had been said of the Lord, that He cast out devils by the prince of the devils. In that place the Lord says, that by the Holy Spirit He casts out devils, that so the spirit who is not divided against Himself may overcome and cast out him who is divided against himself; but that that man would abide in his perdition, who refuses through impenitence to pass over into His peace, who is not divided against Himself. For thus runs the narrative of Mark; Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme; but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost has never forgiveness, but shall be held guilty of an eternal offense. When he had delivered these words of the Lord, he then subjoined his own, saying, Because they said He has an unclean spirit; that He might show that the cause of His saying this arose hence, because they had said that He cast out devils by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. Not that this was a blasphemy which shall not be forgiven, forasmuch as even this shall be forgiven, if a right repentance follow it; but because, as I have said, there arose hence a cause for that sentence to be delivered by the Lord, since mention had been made of the unclean spirit whom the Lord shows to be divided against himself, because of the Holy Spirit who is not only not divided against Himself, but who also makes those whom He gathers together undivided, by forgiving those sins which are divided against themselves, and by inhabiting those who are cleansed, that it may be with them, as it is written in the Acts of the Apostles, The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul. And this gift of forgiveness none resists, but he who has the hardness of an impenitent heart. For in another place also the Jews said of the Lord that He had a devil, yet He spoke nothing there of the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit; because they did not so bring forward the mention of the unclean spirit as that he could be shown out of their own mouths to be divided against himself, as Beelzebub, by whom they said that devils could be cast out.

36. But in this passage according to Matthew, the Lord far more plainly explained what he intended to be understood here; namely, that he it is who speaks a word against the Holy Ghost, who with an impenitent heart resists the Unity of the Church, where in the Holy Spirit is given the remission of sins. For this spirit they have not, as has been said already, who even though they bear and handle the sacraments of Christ, are separated from His congregation. For when He spoke of the division of Satan against Satan, and how that He Himself cast out devils by the Holy Spirit, that Spirit, namely, which is not, as the other, divided against Himself; lest any one should think because of those who gather together their irregular assemblies under the Name of Christ, but without His fold, that the kingdom of Christ also was divided against itself, He immediately added, He that is not with Me is against Me, and he that gathers not with Me scatters abroad, that He might show that they did not belong to Him who by gathering without wished not to gather but to scatter abroad. And afterwards He subjoined, Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy of the Spirit shall not be forgiven. What is this wherefore? Shall the blasphemy of the Spirit only not be forgiven, because he who is not with Christ is against Him, and he who gathers not with Him scatters abroad? Even so, doubtless. For he that gathers not with Him, howsoever he may gather under His name, has not the Holy Ghost.

37. Thus then has He altogether forced us to understand that the remission of no sin nor blasphemy can be effected anywhere else, save in the gathering together of Christ, which scatters not abroad. For it is gathered together in the Holy Spirit, which is not as that unclean spirit, divided against Himself. And therefore all congregations, or dispersions rather, which call themselves Churches of Christ, and are divided against themselves and contrary one to the other, and hostile to the congregation of Unity, which is His True Church, do not therefore belong to His congregation, because they seem to have His Name. But they might belong to it, if the Holy Spirit in whom this congregation is joined together, were divided against Himself. But because this is not so (for he that is not with Christ is against Him, and he that gathers not with Him scatters abroad); therefore all manner of sin and all blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men in this congregation, which Christ gathers together in the Holy Spirit, who is not divided against Himself. But that blasphemy of the Spirit Himself, whereby in an impenitent heart resistance is made to this so great gift of God even to the end of this present life, shall not be forgiven. For though a man so oppose himself to the truth, as to resist God speaking, not in the Prophets, but in His Only Son (since for our sakes He was pleased that He should be the Son of Man, that He might speak to us in Him), yet shall he be forgiven when in repentance he shall have recourse to the goodness of God, who forasmuch as He wills not the death of the wicked, but rather that he should turn from his way and live, has given the Holy Spirit to His Church, that whosoever forgives sins in the Spirit, they should be forgiven. But whoever stands out as an enemy to this gift, so as not in repentance to seek it, but by impenitence to gainsay it, his sin becomes unpardonable; not sin of any one specific kind, but the contempt, or even opposing of the remission of sins itself. And so a word is spoken against the Holy Spirit, when men never come from the dispersion to the congregation which has received the Holy Spirit for the remission of sins. Unto which congregation if any come without hypocrisy, though it be through the ministry of a wicked clergyman, a reprobate and a hypocrite, so he be a Catholic minister, he shall receive remission of sins in this Holy Spirit. For such is the working of this Spirit in the Holy Church, even in this present time, when the grain is as it were being threshed with the chaff, that he despises no man's sincere confession, and is deceived by no man's false pretences, and so flies from the reprobate, as yet by their ministry to gather together those that are approved. One refuge then there is against unpardonable blasphemy, that we take heed of an impenitent heart; and that it be not thought that repentance can avail ought, unless the Church be kept to, in which remission of sins is given, and the fellowship of the Spirit is preserved in the bond of peace.

38. I have through the mercy and assistance of the Lord handled, as I best was able, this most difficult question, if indeed I have been able to do it in any measure. Nevertheless, whatever I have not been able to apprehend in the difficulties of it, let it not be imputed to the truth itself, which is a healthful exercise to the godly, even when it is hidden, but to my infirmity, who either could not see what others might have understood, or could not explain what I did understand. But for that which perhaps I have been able to discover by force of meditation, and to develop in words, to Him must the thanks be given, from whom I have sought, from whom I have asked, unto whom I have knocked, that I might have wherewithal to be nourished myself in meditation, and to minister to you in speaking.

Sermon 22 on the New Testament

[LXXII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 12:33 , Either make the tree good, and its fruit good, etc.

1. The Lord Jesus has admonished us, that we be good trees, and that so we may be able to bear good fruits. For He says, Either make the tree good, and his fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt, for the tree is known by his fruit. When He says, Make the tree good, and his fruit good; this of course is not an admonition, but a wholesome precept, to which obedience is necessary. But when He says, Make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt; this is not a precept that you should do it; but an admonition, that you should beware of it. For He spoke against those, who thought that although they were evil, they could speak good things or have good works. This the Lord Jesus says is impossible. For the man himself must first be changed, in order that his works may be changed. For if a man abide in his evil state, he cannot have good works; if he abide in his good state, he cannot have evil works.

2. But who was found good by the Lord, since Christ died for the ungodly? He found them all corrupt trees, but to those who believed in His Name, He gave power to become the sons of God. Whosoever then now is a good man, that is, a good tree, was found corrupt, and made good. And if when He came He had chosen to root up the corrupt trees, what tree would have remained which did not deserve to be rooted up? But He came first to impart mercy, that He might afterwards exercise judgment, to whom it is said, I will sing unto You O Lord, of mercy and judgment. He gave then remission of sins to those who believed in Him, He would not even take account with them of past reckonings. He gave remission of sins, He made them good trees. He delayed the ax, He gave security.

3. Of this ax does John speak, saying, Now is the ax laid unto the root of the trees; every tree which brings not forth good fruit shall be hewn down, and cast into the fire. With this ax does the Householder in the Gospel threaten, saying, Behold these three years I come to this tree, and find no fruit on it. Now I must clear the ground; wherefore let it be cut down. And the husbandman intercedes, saying, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it and dung it; and if it bear fruit, well; and if not, then You shall come and cut it down. So the Lord has visited mankind as it were three years, that is, at three several times. The first time was before the Law; the second under the Law; the third is now, which is the time of grace. For if He did not visit mankind before the Law, whence was Abel, and Enoch, and Noe, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, whose Lord He was pleased to be called? And He to whom all nations belonged, as though He were the God of three men only, said, I am the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. But if He did not visit under the Law, He would not have given the Law itself. After the Law, came the very Master of the house in person; He suffered, and died, and rose again; He gave the Holy Spirit, He made the Gospel to be preached throughout all the world, and yet a certain tree remained unfruitful. Still is there a certain portion of mankind, which does not yet amend itself. The husbandman intercedes; the Apostle prays for the people; I bow my knees, he says, unto the Father for you, that being rooted and grounded in love, you may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. By bowing the knees, he intercedes with the Master of the house for us, that we be not rooted up. Therefore since He must necessarily come, let us take care that He find us fruitful. The digging about the tree is the lowliness of the penitent. For every ditch is low. The dunging it, is the filthy robe of repentance. For what is more filthy than dung; yet if well used, what more profitable?

4. Let each one then be a good tree; let him not suppose that he can bear good fruit, if he remain a corrupt tree. There will be no good fruit, but from the good tree. Change the heart, and the work will be changed. Root out desire, plant in charity. For as desire is the root of all evil, so is charity the root of all good. Why then do men fret and contend one with another, saying, What is good? O that you knew what good is! What you wish to have is not very good; this is good which you do not wish to be. For you wish to have health of body; it is good indeed; yet you can not think that to be any great good, which the wicked have as well. Thou dost wish to have gold and silver; I grant that these also are good things, but then only if you make a good use of them; and a good use of them you will not make, if you are evil yourself. And hence gold and silver are to the evil evil; to the good are good, not because gold and silver make them good; but because they find them good, they are turned to a good use. Again, you wish to have honour, it is good; but this too only if you make a good use of it. To how many has honour been the occasion of destruction! And again, to how many has honour been the instrument of good works!

5. Let us then, if we can, make a distinction as to these goods; for it is of good trees that we are speaking. And here there is nothing, which every one ought so much to think of, as to turn his eyes upon himself, to learn in himself, examine himself, inspect himself, search into himself, and find out himself; and kill what is displeasing; and long for and plant in that which is well-pleasing (to God). For when a man finds himself so empty of better goods, why is he greedy of external goods? And what profit is there in a coffer full of goods, with an empty conscience? You wish to have good things, and do you not then wish to be good yourself? Do you see not that you ought rather to blush for your good things, if your house is full of good things, and you its owner are evil? For what is there, tell me, you would wish to have that is bad. Not any one thing I am sure; neither wife; nor son; nor daughter; nor manservant; nor maidservant; nor country seat; nor a coat; nay nor a shoe; and yet you are willing to have a bad life. I pray you prefer your way of life to your shoes. All things which encompass your sight, as being of elegance and beauty, are highly prized by you; and are you so lightly esteemed by yourself, and so devoid of beauty? If the good things of which your house is full, which you have longed to possess, and feared to lose, could make answer to you, would they not cry out to you, As you wish to have us good, so do we also wish to have a good owner? And now in speechless accents do they address your Lord against you: Lo! You have given him so many good things, and he himself is evil. What profit is there to him in that he has, when he has not Him who has given him all!

6. One then who has been admonished, and it may be moved to compunction by these words, may ask what is good? What is the nature of good? And whence it comes? Well is it that you have understood that it is your duty to ask this. I will answer your enquiries, and will say, That is good which you can not lose against your will. For gold you may lose even against your will; and so you can a house; and honours, and even the health of the body; but the good whereby you are truly good, you neither receive against your will, nor lose it against your will. I enquire then, What is the nature of this good? One of the Psalms teaches us an important matter, perchance it is even this that we are seeking for. For it says, O you sons of men, how long will you be heavy in heart? How long will that tree be in its three years fruitlessness? O you sons of men, how long will you be heavy in heart? What is heavy in heart? Why do ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? And then it goes on to say what we must really seek after; Know ye that the Lord has magnified His Holy One? Now Christ has come, now has He been magnified, now has He risen again, and ascended into heaven, now is His Name preached through the world: How long will you be heavy in heart? Let the times past suffice; now that that Holy One has been magnified, How long will you be heavy in heart? After the three years, what remains but the ax? How long will you be heavy in heart? Why do ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Vain, useless, frivolous, fleeting things are these still sought after, now that Christ the Holy One has been so magnified? Truth now is crying aloud, and is vanity still sought after? How long will you be heavy in heart?

7. With good reason is this world severely scourged; for the world has known now its Master's words. And the servant, He says, that knew not his Master's will, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. Why? That he may seek after his Master's will. The servant then who knew not His will, this was the world, before He magnified His Holy One; it was the servant who knew not his Master's will, and therefore shall be beaten with few stripes. But the servant who now knows his Master's will, that is now, since the Godhead sanctified His Holy One, and does not His will, shall be beaten with many stripes. What marvel then, if the world be now much beaten? It is the servant which knew his Master's will, and did commit things worthy of stripes. Let him then not refuse to be beaten with many stripes; since if in unrighteousness he will not hear his teacher, in righteousness must he feel his avenger. At least, let him not murmur against Him that chastens him, when he sees that he is worthy of stripes, that so he may attain mercy; through Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns, with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.

Sermon 23 on the New Testament

[LXXIII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 13:19 , etc., where the Lord Jesus explains the parables of the sower.

1. Both yesterday and today you have heard the parables of the sower, in the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do ye who were present yesterday, recollect today. Yesterday we read of that sower, who when he scattered seed, some fell by the way side, which the birds picked up; some in stony places, which dried up from the heat; some among thorns, which were choked, and could not bring forth fruit; and other some into good ground, and it brought forth fruit, a hundred, sixty, thirty fold. But today the Lord has again spoken another parable of the sower, who sowed good seed in his field. While men slept the enemy came, and sowed tares upon it. As long as it was only in the blade, it did not appear; but when the fruit of the good seed began to appear, then appeared the tares also. The servants of the householder were offended, when they saw a quantity of tares among the good wheat, and wished to root them out, but they were not suffered to do so; but it was said to them, Let both grow together until the harvest. Now the Lord Jesus Christ explained this parable also; and said that He was the sower of the good seed, and He showed how that the enemy who sowed the tares was the devil; the time of harvest, the end of the world; His field the whole world. And what says He? In the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, to burn them, but gather the wheat into My barn. Why are you so hasty, He says, you servants full of zeal? You see tares among the wheat, you see evil Christians among the good; and you wish to root up the evil ones; be quiet, it is not the time of harvest. That time will come, may it only find you wheat! Why do ye vex yourselves? Why bear impatiently the mixture of the evil with the good? In the field they may be with you, but they will not be so in the barn.

2. Now ye know that those three places mentioned yesterday where the seed did not grow, the way side, the stony ground, and the thorny places, are the same as these tares. They received only a different name under a different similitude. For when similitudes are used, or the literal meaning of a term is not expressed, not the truth but a similitude of the truth is conveyed by them. I see that but few have understood my meaning; yet it is for the benefit of all that I speak. In things visible, a way side is a way side, stony ground is stony ground, thorny places are thorny places; they are simply what they are, because the names are used in their literal sense. But in parables and similitudes one thing may be called by many names; therefore there is nothing inconsistent in my telling you that that way side, that stony ground, those thorny places, are bad Christians, and that they too are the tares. Is not Christ called the Lamb? Is not Christ the Lion too? Among wild beasts, and cattle, a lamb is simply a lamb, and a lion, a lion: but Christ is both. The first are respectively what they are in propriety of expression; the Latter both together in a figurative sense. Nay much more; besides this it may happen that under a figure, things very different from one another may be called by one and the same name. For what is so different as Christ and the devil? Yet both Christ and the devil are called a lion. Christ is called a lion: The Lion has prevailed of the tribe of Judah; and the devil is called a lion: Do you not know that your adversary the Devil walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour? Both the one and the other then is a lion; the one a lion by reason of His strength; the other for his savageness; the one a lion for His prevailing; the other for his injuring. The devil again is a serpent, that old serpent; are we commanded then to imitate the devil, when our Shepherd told us, Be wise as serpents, and simple as doves?

3. Accordingly I yesterday addressed the way side, I addressed the stony ground, I addressed the thorny places; and I said, Be changed while ye may: turn up with the plough the hard ground, cast the stones out of the field, pluck up the thorns out of it. Be loth to retain that hard heart, from which the word of God may quickly pass away and be lost. Be loth to have that lightness of soil, where the root of charity can take no deep hold. Be loth to choke the good seed which is sown in you by my labours, with the lusts and the cares of this world. For it is the Lord who sows; and we are only His labourers. But be ye the good ground. I said yesterday, and I say again today to all, Let one bring forth a hundred, another sixty, another thirty fold. In one the fruit is more, in another less; but all will have a place in the barn. Yesterday I said all this, today I am addressing the tares; but the sheep themselves are the tares. O evil Christians, O you, who in filling only press the Church by your evil lives; amend yourselves before the harvest come. Say not, I have sinned, and what has befallen me? God has not lost His power; but He is requiring repentance from you. I say this to the evil, who yet are Christians; I say this to the tares. For they are in the field; and it may so be, that they who today are tares, may tomorrow be wheat. And so I will address the wheat also.

4. O you Christians, whose lives are good, you sigh and groan as being few among many, few among very many. The winter will pass away, the summer will come; lo! The harvest will soon be here. The angels will come who can make the separation, and who cannot make mistakes. We in this time present are like those servants of whom it was said, Will You that we go and gather them up? for we were wishing, if it might be so, that no evil ones should remain among the good. But it has been told us, Let both grow together until the harvest. Why? For you are such as may be deceived. Hear finally; Lest while you gather up the tares, you root up also the wheat with them. What good are you doing? Will ye by your eagerness make a waste of My harvest? The reapers will come, and who the reapers are He has explained, And the reapers are the angels. We are but men, the reapers are the angels. We too indeed, if we finish our course, shall be equal to the angels of God; but now when we chafe against the wicked, we are as yet but men. And we ought now to give ear to the words, Wherefore let him that thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall. For do ye think, my Brethren, that these tares we read of do not get up into this seat? Think ye that they are all below, and none above up here? God grant we may not be so. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you. I tell you of a truth, my Beloved, even in these high seats there is both wheat, and tares, and among the laity there is wheat, and tares. Let the good tolerate the bad; let the bad change themselves, and imitate the good. Let us all, if it may be so, attain to God; let us all through His mercy escape the evil of this world. Let us seek after good days, for we are now in evil days; but in the evil days let us not blaspheme, that so we may be able to arrive at the good days.

Sermon 24 on the New Testament

[LXXIV. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 13:52 , Therefore every scribe who has been made a disciple to the kingdom of Heaven, etc.

1. The lesson of the Gospel reminds me to seek out, and to explain to you, Beloved, as the Lord shall give me power, who is that Scribe instructed in the kingdom of God, who is like an householder bringing out of his treasure things new and old. For here the lesson ended. What are the new and old things of an instructed Scribe? Now it is well known who they were, whom the ancients, after the custom of our Scriptures, called Scribes, those, namely, who professed the knowledge of the Law. For such were called Scribes among the Jewish people, not such as are so called now in the service of judges, or the custom of states. For we must not enter school to no purpose, but we must know in what signification to take the words of Scripture; lest when anything is mentioned out of it, which is usually understood in another secular use of the term, the hearer mistake it, and by thinking of its customary meaning, understand not what he has heard. The Scribes then were they who professed the knowledge of the Law, and to them belonged both the keeping and the studying, as well as also the transcribing and the expounding, of the books of the Law.

2. Such were they whom our Lord Jesus Christ rebukes, because they have the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and would neither enter in themselves, nor suffer others to enter in; in these words finding fault with the Pharisees and Scribes, the teachers of the law of the Jews. Of whom in another place He says, Whatsoever they say, do, but do not ye after their works, for they say and do not. Why is it said to you, For they say and do not? but that there are some of whom what the Apostle says, is clearly exemplified, Thou that preachest a man should not steal, do you steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest idols, do you commit sacrilege? Thou that makest your boast of the Law, through breaking the Law do you dishonour God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you. It is surely plain that the Lord speaks of these, For they say and do not. They then are Scribes, but not instructed in the kingdom of God.

3. Peradventure some of you may say, And how can a bad man speak what is good, when it is written, in the words of the Lord Himself, 'A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil things. You hypocrites, how can you being evil speak good things?' In the one place He says, How can you being evil speak good things? in the other He says, What they say, do, but do ye not after their works. For they say, and do not. If they say and do not, they are evil; if they are evil, they cannot speak good things; how then are we to do what we hear from them, when we cannot hear from them what is good? Now take heed, Holy and Beloved, how this question may be solved. Whatever an evil man brings forth from himself, is evil; whatever an evil man brings forth out of his own heart, is evil; for there is the evil treasure. But whatever a good man brings forth out of his heart, is good; for there is the good treasure. Whence then did those evil men bring forth good things? Because they sat in Moses' seat. Had He not first said, They sit in Moses' seat; He would never have enjoined that evil men should be heard. For what they brought forth out of the evil treasure of their own heart, was one thing; another what they gave utterance to out of the seat of Moses, the criers so to say of the judge. What the crier says, will never be attributed to him if he speak in the presence of the judge. What the crier says in his own house is one thing, what the crier says as hearing it from the judge is another. For whether he will or no, the crier must proclaim the sentence of punishment even of his own friend. And so whether he will or no, must he proclaim the sentence of the acquittal even of his own enemy. Suppose him to speak from his heart; he acquits his friend, and punishes his enemy. Suppose him to speak from the judge's chair; he punishes his friend, and acquits his enemy. So with the Scribes; suppose them to speak out of their own heart; you will hear, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die. Suppose them to speak from Moses' seat; you will hear, You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness. Honour your father and mother; you shall love your neighbour as yourself. Do then this which the official seat proclaims by the mouth of the Scribes; not that which their heart utters. For so embracing both judgments of the Lord, you will not be obedient in the one, and guilty of disobedience in the other; but will understand that both agree together, and will regard both that as true, that a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things; and that other also, that those Scribes did not speak good things out of the evil treasure of their heart, but that they were able to speak good things out of the treasure of Moses' seat.

4. So then those words of the Lord will not disturb you, when He says, Every tree is known by his own fruit. Do men gather grapes of thorns, and figs of thistles? The Scribes and Pharisees of the Jews therefore were thorns and thistles, and notwithstanding, what they say do, but do ye not after their works. So then the grape is gathered from thorns, and the fig from thistles, as He has given you to understand according to the method I have just laid down. For so sometimes in the vineyard's thorny hedge, the vines get entangled, and clusters of grapes hang from the brambles. You had no sooner heard the name of thorns, than you were on the point of disregarding the grape. But seek for the root of the thorns, and you will see where to find it. Follow too the root of the hanging cluster, and you will see where to find it. So understand that the one refers to the Pharisee's heart, the other to Moses' seat.

5. But why were they such as they were? Because, says St. Paul, the veil is upon their heart. And they do not see that the old things are passed away, and all things have become new. Hence it is that they were such, and all others who even now are like them. Why are they old things? Because they have been a long while published. Why new? Because they relate to the kingdom of God. How the veil then is taken away, the Apostle himself tells us. But when you shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. So then the Jew who does not turn to the Lord, does not carry on his mind's eye to the end. Just as at that time the children of Israel in this figure did not carry on the gaze of their eyes to the end, that is, to the face of Moses. For the shining face of Moses contained a figure of the truth; the veil was interposed because the children of Israel could not yet behold the glory of his countenance. Which figure is done away. For so said the Apostle; which is done away. Why done away? Because when the emperor comes, the images of him are taken away. The image is looked upon, when the emperor is not present; but where he is, whose image it is, there the image is removed. There were then images borne before Him, before that our Emperor the Lord Jesus Christ came. When the images were taken away, the glory of the Emperor's presence is seen. Therefore, When any one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the voice of Moses sounded through the veil, but the face of Moses was not seen. And so now the voice of Christ sounds to the Jews by the voice of the old Scriptures: they hear their voice, but they see not the face of Him that speaks. Would they then that the veil should be taken away? Let them turn to the Lord. For then the old things are not taken away, but laid up in a treasury, that the Scribe may henceforth be instructed in the kingdom of God, bringing forth out of his treasure not new things only, nor old things only. For if he bring forth new things only or old things only; he is not a scribe instructed in the kingdom of God, bringing forth out of his treasure things new and old. If he say and do them not; he brings forth from the official seat, not from the treasure of his heart. And (we speak the truth, Holy Brethren) what things are brought out of the old, are illustrated by the new. Therefore do we turn to the Lord, that the veil may be taken away.

Sermon 25 on the New Testament

[LXXV. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 14:24 , But the boat was now in the midst of the sea, distressed by the waves.

1. The lesson of the Gospel which we have just heard is a lesson of humility to us all, that we may see and know where we are, and whither we must tend and hasten. For that ship which carries the disciples, which was tossed in the waves by a contrary wind, is not without its meaning. Nor without a meaning did the Lord after He had left the multitudes, go up into a mountain to pray alone; and then coming to His disciples found them in danger, walking on the sea, and getting up into the ship strengthened them, and appeased the waves. But what marvel if He can appease all things who created all? Nevertheless after He had come up into the ship, they who were being borne in her, came saying, Of a truth You are the Son of God. But before this plain discovery of Himself they were troubled, saying, It is a phantom. But He coming up into the ship took away the fluctuation of mind from their hearts, when they were now more endangered in their souls by doubting, than before in their bodies by the waves.

2. Yet in all this that the Lord did, He instructs us as to the nature of our life here. In this world there is not a man who is not a stranger; though all do not desire to return to their own country. Now by this very journey we are exposed to waves and tempests; but we must needs be at least in the ship. For if there be perils in the ship, without the ship there is certain destruction. For whatever strength of arm he may have who swims in the open sea, yet in time he is carried away and sunk, mastered by the greatness of its waves. Need then there is that we be in the ship, that is, that we be carried in the wood, that we may be able to cross this sea. Now this Wood in which our weakness is carried is the Cross of the Lord, by which we are signed, and delivered from the dangerous tempests of this world. We are exposed to the violence of the waves; but He who helps us is God.

3. For in that when the Lord had left the multitudes, He went up alone into a mountain to pray; that mountain signifies the height of heaven. For having left the multitudes, the Lord after His Resurrection ascended Alone into heaven, and there, as the Apostle says, He makes intercession for us. There is some meaning then in His leaving the multitudes, and going up into a mountain to pray Alone. For He Alone is as yet the First-begotten from the dead, after the resurrection of His Body, unto the right hand of the Father, the High Priest and Advocate of our prayers. The Head of the Church is above, that the rest of the members may follow at the end. If then He makes intercession for us, above the height of all creatures, as it were on the mountain top, He prays Alone.

4. Meanwhile the ship which carries the disciples, that is, the Church, is tossed and shaken by the tempests of temptation; and the contrary wind, that is, the devil her adversary, rests not, and strives to hinder her from arriving at rest. But greater is He who makes intercession for us. For in this our tossing to and fro in which we toil, He gives us confidence in coming to us, and strengthening us; only let us not in our trouble throw ourselves out of the ship, and cast ourselves into the sea. For though the ship be in trouble, still it is the ship. She alone carries the disciples, and receives Christ. There is danger, it is true, in the sea; but without her there is instant perishing. Keep yourself therefore in the ship, and pray to God. For when all counsels fail, when even the rudder is unserviceable, and the very spreading of the sails is rather dangerous than useful, when all human help and strength is gone, there remains only for the sailors the earnest cry of entreaty, and pouring out of prayer to God. He then who grants to sailors to reach the haven, shall He so forsake His own Church, as not to bring it on to rest?

5. Yet, Brethren, this exceeding trouble is not in this ship, save only in the absence of the Lord. What! can he who is in the Church, have his Lord absent from him? When has he his Lord absent from him? When he is overcome by any lust. For as we find it said in a certain place in a figure, Let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither give place to the devil: and this is understood not of this visible sun which holds as it were the zenith of glory among the rest of the visible creation, and which can be seen equally by us and by the beasts; but of that Light which none but the pure hearts of the faithful see; as it is written, That was the true Light, which lightens every man that comes into the world. For this light of the visible sun lightens even the minutest and smallest animals. Righteousness then and wisdom is that true light, which the mind ceases to see, when it is overcome by the disordering of anger as by a cloud; and then, as it were, the sun goes down upon a man's wrath. So also in this ship, when Christ is absent, every one is shaken by his own storms, and iniquities, and evil desires. For, for example, the law tells you, You shall not bear false witness. If you observe the truth of witness, you have light in the soul; but if overcome by the desire of filthy lucre, you have determined in your mind to speak false witness, you will at once begin through Christ's absence to be troubled by the tempest, you will be tossed to and fro by the waves of your covetousness, you will be endangered by the violent storm of your lusts, and as it were through Christ's absence be well near sunk.

6. What cause of fear is there, lest the ship be diverted from her course, and take a backward direction; which happens when, abandoning the hope of heavenly rewards, desire turns the helm, and a man is turned to those things which are seen and pass away! For whosoever is disturbed by the temptations of lusts, and nevertheless still looks into those things which are within, is not so utterly in a desperate state, if he beg pardon for his faults, and exert himself to overcome and surmount the fury of the raging sea. But he who is so turned aside from what he was, as to say in his heart, God does not see me; for He does not think of me, nor care whether I sin; he has turned the helm, borne away by the storm, and driven back to the point he came from. For there are many thoughts in the hearts of men; and when Christ is absent, the ship is tossed by the waves of this world, and by tempests manifold.

7. Now the fourth watch of the night, is the end of the night; for each watch consists of three hours. It signifies then, that now in the end of the world the Lord has come to help, and is seen to walk upon the waters. For though this ship be tossed about by the storms of temptations, yet she sees her Glorified God walking above all the swellings of the sea; that is, above all the principalities of this world. For before it was said by an expression suited to the time of His Passion, when according to the flesh He showed forth an example of humility, that the waves of the sea vainly raged against Him, to which He yielded voluntarily for our sakes, that that prophecy, I have come into the depths of the sea, and the floods overflow Me, might be fulfilled. For He did not repel the false witnesses, nor the savage shout of those that said, Let Him be crucified. He did not by His power repress the savage hearts and words of those furious men, but in patience endured them all. They did unto Him whatsoever they listed; because He became obedient to death, even the death of the Cross. But after that He was risen from the dead, that He might pray alone for His disciples placed in the Church as in a ship, and borne on in the faith of His Cross, as in wood, and in peril through this world's temptations as through the waves of the sea; His Name began to be honoured even in this world in which He was despised, accused, and slain; that He who in the dispensation of His suffering in the flesh, had come into the depths of the sea, and the floods had overwhelmed Him, might now through the glory of His Name tread upon the necks of the proud as on the foaming waters. Just as we now see the Lord walking as it were upon the sea, under whose feet we behold the whole madness of this world subjected.

8. But to the perils of tempests are added also the errors of heretics; and there are not wanting those who so try the minds of them that are in the ship, as to say that Christ was not born of a Virgin, nor had a real body, but seemed to the eyes what He was not. And these opinions of heretics have sprung up now, when the Name of Christ is already glorified throughout all nations; when Christ, that is, is as it were now walking on the sea. The disciples in their trial said, It is a phantom. But He gives us strength against these pestilent opinions by His own voice, Be of good cheer, it is I; be not afraid. For men in vain fear have conceived these opinions concerning Christ, looking at his Honour and Majesty; and they think that He could not be so born, who has deserved to be so Glorified, fearing Him as it were walking on the sea. For by this action the excellency of His honour is figured; and so they think that He was a phantom. But when he says, It is I; what else does He say but that there is nothing in Him which does not really exist? Accordingly if He shows His flesh, it is flesh; if bones, they are bones; if scars, they are scars. For there was not in Him yea and nay, but in Him was yea, as the Apostle says. Hence that expression, Be of good cheer, it is I; be not afraid. That is, do not so stand in awe of My Majesty, as to wish to take away the reality of My Being from Me. Though I walk upon the sea, though I have under My feet the elation and the pride of this world, as the raging waves, yet have I appeared as very Man, yet does My Gospel proclaim the very truth concerning Me, that I was born of a Virgin, that I am the Word made flesh; that I said truly, Handle Me, and see, for a spirit has not bones as you see Me have, that they were true impresses of My wounds which the hands of the doubting Apostle handled. And therefore It is I; be not afraid.

9. But this, that the disciples thought He was a phantom, does not represent these only, does not designate them only who deny that the Lord had human flesh, and who sometimes by their blind perverseness disturb even those who are in the ship; but those also who think that the Lord has in anything spoken falsely, and who do not believe that the things which He has threatened the ungodly will come to pass. As though He were partly true, and partly false, appearing like a phantom in His words, as though He were something which is yea and nay. But they who understand His voice aright, who says, It is I; be not afraid; believe at once all the words of the Lord, so that as they hope for the rewards He promises, so do they fear the punishments He threatens. For as that is true which He will say to those who are set on the right hand, Come, you blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; so is that true, which they on the left hand will hear, Depart ye into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his Angels. For this very opinion, by which men think that Christ's threatenings against the unrighteous and the abandoned are not true, has arisen from this, that they see many nations and multitudes innumerable subject to His Name; so that hence Christ appears to them to be a phantom, because He walked upon the sea; that is, He seems to speak falsely in His threats of punishment, because, as it were, He cannot destroy such numberless people who are subject to His Name and honour. But let them hear Him, saying, It is I; let them not therefore be afraid, who believing Christ to be true in all things, not only seek after what He has promised, but avoid also what He has threatened; because though He walk upon the sea, that is, though all the nations of men in this world are subject unto Him; yet is He no phantom, and therefore He does not speak falsely, when He says, Not every one that says unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.

10. What then does Peter's daring to come to Him on the waters also signify? For Peter generally stands for a figure of the Church. What else then do we think is meant by, Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto You on the water; but, Lord, if You are true, and in nothing speakest falsely, let Your Church also be glorified in this world, because prophecy has proclaimed this concerning You. Let her walk then on the waters, and so let her come to You, to whom it is said, The rich among the people shall entreat Your favour. But since to the Lord the praise of men is no temptation, but men are ofttimes in the Church disordered by human praises and honours, and well near sunk by them; therefore did Peter tremble in the sea, terrified at the great violence of the storm. For who does not fear those words, They who call you blessed cause you to err, and disturb the ways of your feet? And because the soul has much wrestling against the eager desire of human praise, good is it in such peril to betake one's self to prayer and earnest entreaty: lest haply he who is charmed with praise, be overwhelmed and sunk by blame. Let Peter cry out as he totters in the water, and say, Lord, save me. For the Lord will reach forth His hand, and though He chide, saying, O you of little faith, wherefore did you doubt? wherefore did you not look straight forward upon Him to whom you were making your way, and glory only in the Lord? Nevertheless He will snatch him from the waves, and will not suffer Him to perish, who confesses his own infirmity, and begs His help. But when they had received the Lord into the ship, and their faith was strengthened and all doubt removed, and the tempests of the sea assuaged, so that they had come to a firm and secure landing, they all worship Him, saying, Of a truth You are the Son of God. For this is that everlasting joy, where Truth made manifest, and the Word of God, and the Wisdom by which all things were made, and the exceeding height of His Mercy, are both known and loved.

Sermon 26 on the New Testament

[LXXVI. Ben.]

Again on Matthew 14:25 : Of the Lord walking on the waves of the sea, and of Peter tottering.

1. The Gospel which has just been read touching the Lord Christ, who walked on the waters of the sea; and the Apostle Peter, who as he was walking, tottered through fear, and sinking in distrust, rose again by confession, gives us to understand that the sea is the present world, and the Apostle Peter the type of the One Church. For Peter in the order of Apostles first, and in the love of Christ most forward, answers oftentimes alone for all the rest. Again, when the Lord Jesus Christ asked, whom men said that He was, and when the disciples gave the various opinions of men, and the Lord asked again and said, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answered, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. One for many gave the answer, Unity in many. Then said the Lord to Him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjonas: for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you, but My Father which is in heaven. Then He added, and I say unto you. As if He had said, Because you have said to Me, 'You are the Christ the Son of the living God;' I also say unto you, 'You are Peter.' For before he was called Simon. Now this name of Peter was given him by the Lord, and that in a figure, that he should signify the Church. For seeing that Christ is the rock (Petra), Peter is the Christian people. For the rock (Petra) is the original name. Therefore Peter is so called from the rock; not the rock from Peter; as Christ is not called Christ from the Christian, but the Christian from Christ. Therefore, he says, You are Peter; and upon this Rock which you have confessed, upon this Rock which you have acknowledged, saying, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, will I build My Church; that is upon Myself, the Son of the living God, will I build My Church. I will build you upon Myself, not Myself upon you.

2. For men who wished to be built upon men, said, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas, who is Peter. But others who did not wish to be built upon Peter, but upon the Rock, said, But I am of Christ. And when the Apostle Paul ascertained that he was chosen, and Christ despised, he said, Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? And, as not in the name of Paul, so neither in the name of Peter; but in the name of Christ: that Peter might be built upon the Rock, not the Rock upon Peter.

3. This same Peter therefore who had been by the Rock pronounced blessed, bearing the figure of the Church, holding the chief place in the Apostleship, a very little while after that he had heard that he was blessed, a very little while after that he had heard that he was Peter, a very little while after that he had heard that he was to be built upon the Rock, displeased the Lord when He had heard of His future Passion, for He had foretold His disciples that it was soon to be. He feared lest he should by death, lose Him whom he had confessed as the fountain of life. He was troubled, and said, Be it far from You, Lord: this shall not be to You. Spare Yourself, O God, I am not willing that You should die. Peter said to Christ, I am not willing that You should die; but Christ far better said, I am willing to die for you. And then He immediately rebuked him, whom He had a little before commended; and calls him Satan, whom he had pronounced blessed. Get behind Me, Satan, he says, you are an offense unto Me: for you savour not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. What would He have us do in our present state, who thus finds fault because we are men? Would you know what He would have us do? Give ear to the Psalm; I have said, You are gods, and you are all the children of the Most High. But by savouring the things of men; you shall die like men. The very same Peter a little while before blessed, afterwards Satan, in one moment, within a few words! You wonder at the difference of the names, mark the difference of the reasons of them. Why do you wonder that he who was a little before blessed, is afterwards Satan? Mark the reason wherefore he is blessed. Because flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you, but My Father which is in heaven. Therefore blessed, because flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you. For if flesh and blood revealed this to you, it were of your own; but because flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you, but My Father which is in heaven, it is of Mine, not of your own. Why of Mine? Because all things that the Father has are Mine. So then you have heard the cause, why he is blessed, and why he is Peter. But why was he that which we shudder at, and are loth to repeat, why, but because it was of your own? For you savour not the things which be of God, but those that be of men.

4. Let us, looking at ourselves in this member of the Church, distinguish what is of God, and what of ourselves. For then we shall not totter, then shall we be founded on the Rock, shall be fixed and firm against the winds, and storms, and streams, the temptations, I mean, of this present world. Yet see this Peter, who was then our figure; now he trusts, and now he totters; now he confesses the Undying, and now he fears lest He should die. Wherefore? Because the Church of Christ has both strong and weak ones; and cannot be without either strong or weak; whence the Apostle Paul says, Now we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak. In that Peter said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, he represents the strong: but in that he totters, and would not that Christ should suffer, in fearing death for Him, and not acknowledging the Life, he represents the weak ones of the Church. In that one Apostle then, that is, Peter, in the order of Apostles first and chiefest, in whom the Church was figured, both sorts were to be represented, that is, both the strong and weak; because the Church does not exist without them both.

5. And hence also is that which was just now read, Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto You on the water. For I cannot do this in myself, but in You. He acknowledged what he had of himself, and what of Him, by whose will he believed that he could do that, which no human weakness could do. Therefore, if it be Thou, bid me; because when you bid, it will be done. What I cannot do by taking it upon myself, You can do by bidding me. And the Lord said Come. And without any doubting, at the word of Him who bade him, at the presence of Him who sustained, at the presence of Him who guided him, without any delay, Peter leaped down into the water, and began to walk. He was able to do what the Lord was doing, not in himself, but in the Lord. For you were sometimes darkness, but now are you light in the Lord. What no one can do in Paul, no one in Peter, no one in any other of the Apostles, this can he do in the Lord. Therefore well said Paul by a wholesome despising of himself, and commending of Him; Was Paul crucified for you, or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? So then, you are not in me, but together with me; not under me, but under Him.

6. Therefore Peter walked on the water by the bidding of the Lord, knowing that he could not have this power of himself. By faith he had strength to do what human weakness could not do. These are the strong ones of the Church. Mark this, hear, understand, and act accordingly. For we must not deal with the strong on any other principle than this, that so they should become weak; but thus we must deal with the weak, that they may become strong. But the presuming on their own strength keeps many back from strength. No one will have strength from God, but he who feels himself weak of himself. God sets apart a spontaneous rain for His inheritance. Why do you, who know what I was about to say, anticipate me? Let your quickness be moderated, that the slowness of the rest may follow. This I said, and I say it again; hear it, receive it, and act on this principle. No one is made strong by God, but he who feels himself weak of his own self. And therefore a spontaneous rain, as the Psalm says, spontaneous; not of our deserts, but spontaneous. A spontaneous rain therefore God sets apart for his inheritance; for it was weak; but You have perfected it. Because Thou hast set apart for it a spontaneous rain, not looking to men's deserts, but to Your own grace and mercy. This inheritance then was weakened, and acknowledged its own weakness in itself, that it might be strong in You. It would not be strengthened, if it were not weak, that by You it might be perfected in You.

7. See Paul a small portion of this inheritance, see him in weakness, who said, I am not meet to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. Why then are you an Apostle? By the grace of God I am what I am. I am not meet, but by the grace of God I am what I am. Paul was weak, but You have perfected him. But now because by the grace of God he is what he is, look what follows; And His grace in me was not in vain, but I laboured more abundantly than they all. Take heed lest you lose by presumption what you have attained through weakness. This is well, very well; that I am not meet to be called an Apostle. By His grace I am what I am, and His grace in me was not in vain: all most excellent. But, I laboured more abundantly than they all; you have begun, it would seem, to ascribe to yourself what a little before you had given to God. Attend and follow on; Yet not I, but the grace of God with me. Well! You weak one; you shall be exalted in exceeding strength, seeing you are not unthankful. You are the very same Paul, little in yourself; and great in the Lord. You are he who thrice beseeched the Lord, that the thorn of the flesh, the messenger of Satan, by whom you were buffeted, might be taken away from you. And what was said to you? What did you hear when you made this petition? My grace is sufficient for you: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. For he was weak, but Thou perfected him.

8. So Peter also said, Bid me come unto You on the water. I who dare this am but a man, but it is no man whom I beseech. Let the God-man bid, that man may be able to do what man cannot do. Come, said He. And He went down, and began to walk on the water; and Peter was able, because the Rock had bidden him. Lo, what Peter was in the Lord; what was he in himself? When he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried out, Lord, I perish, save me. When he looked for strength from the Lord, he had strength from the Lord; as a man he tottered, but he returned to the Lord. If I said, my foot has slipped (they are the words of a Psalm, the notes of a holy song; and if we acknowledge them they are our words too; yea, if we will, they are ours also). If I said my foot has slipped. How slipped, except because it was my own. And what follows? Your mercy, Lord, helped me. Not my own strength, but Your mercy. For will God forsake him as he totters, whom He heard when calling upon Him? Where then is that, Who has called upon God, and has been forsaken by Him? where again is that, Whosoever shall call on the Name of the Lord, shall be delivered. Immediately reaching forth the help of His right hand, He lifted him up as he was sinking, and rebuked his distrust; O you of little faith, wherefore did you doubt? Once you trusted in Me, have you now doubted of Me?

9. Well, brethren, my sermon must be ended. Consider the world to be the sea; the wind is boisterous, and there is a mighty tempest. Each man's peculiar lust is his tempest. Thou dost love God; you walk upon the sea, and under your feet is the swelling of the world. Thou dost love the world, it will swallow you up. It skills only how to devour its lovers, not to carry them. But when your heart is tossed about by lust, in order that you may get the better of your lust, call upon the Divinity of Christ. Think ye that the wind is then contrary, when there is this life's adversity? For so when there are wars, when there is tumult, when there is famine, when there is pestilence, when even to every individual man his private calamity arrives, then the wind is thought to be contrary, then it is thought that God must be called upon. But when the world wears her smile of temporal happiness, it is as if there were no contrary wind. But do not ask upon this matter the tranquil state of the times: ask only your own lust. See if there be tranquillity within you: see if there be no inner wind which overturns you; see to this. There needs great virtue to struggle with happiness, lest this very happiness allure, corrupt, and overthrow you. There needs, I say, great virtue to struggle with happiness, and great happiness not to be overcome by happiness. Learn then to tread upon the world; remember to trust in Christ. And if your foot have slipped; if you totter, if some things there are which you can not overcome, if you begin to sink, say, Lord, I perish, save me. Say, I perish, that you perish not. For He only can deliver you from the death of the body, who died in the body for you. Let us turn to the Lord, etc.

Sermon 27 on the New Testament

[LXXVII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 15:21 ,Jesus went out thence, and withdrew into the parts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanitish woman, etc.

1. This woman of Canaan, who has just now been brought before us in the lesson of the Gospel, shows us an example of humility, and the way of godliness; shows us how to rise from humility unto exaltation. Now she was, as it appears, not of the people of Israel, of whom came the Patriarchs, and Prophets, and the parents of the Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh; of whom the Virgin Mary herself was, who was the Mother of Christ. This woman then was not of this people; but of the Gentiles. For, as we have heard, the Lord departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, and behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and with the greatest earnestness begged of Him the mercy to heal her daughter, who was grievously vexed with a devil. Tyre and Sidon were not cities of the people of Israel, but of the Gentiles; though they bordered on that people. So then, as being eager to obtain mercy she cried out, and boldly knocked; and He made as though He heard her not, not to the end that mercy might be refused her, but that her desire might be enkindled; and not only that her desire might be enkindled, but that, as I have said before, her humility might be set forth. Therefore did she cry, while the Lord was as though He heard her not, but was ordering in silence what He was about to do. The disciples besought the Lord for her, and said, Send her away; for she cries after us. And He said, I am not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

2. Here arises a question out of these words; If He was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel, how came we from among the Gentiles into Christ's fold? What is the meaning of the so deep economy of this mystery, that whereas the Lord knew the purpose of His coming — that He might have a Church in all nations, He said that 'He was not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel'? We understand then by this that it behooved Him to manifest His Bodily presence, His Birth, the exhibition of His miracles, and the power of His Resurrection, among that people: that so it had been ordained, so set forth from the beginning, so predicted, and so fulfilled; that Christ Jesus was to come to the nation of the Jews, to be seen and slain, and to gain from among them those whom He foreknew. For that people was not wholly condemned, but sifted. There was among them a great quantity of chaff, but there was also the hidden worth of the grain; there was among them that which was to be burnt, there was among them also that wherewith the barn was to be filled. For whence came the Apostles? Whence came Peter? Whence the rest?

3. Whence was Paul himself, who was first called Saul? That is, first proud, afterwards humble? For when he was Saul, his name was derived from Saul: now Saul was a proud king; and in his reign he persecuted the humble David. So when he who was afterwards Paul, was Saul, he was proud, at that time a persecutor of the innocent, at that time a waster of the Church. For he had received letters from the chief priests (burning as he was with zeal for the synagogue, and persecuting the Christian name), that he might show up whatever Christians he should find, to be punished. While he is on his way, while he is breathing out slaughter, while he is thirsting for blood, he is thrown to the ground by the voice of Christ from heaven the persecutor, he is raised up the preacher. In him was fulfilled that which is written in the Prophet, I will wound and I will heal. For that only in man does God wound, which lifts itself up against God. He is no unkind physician who opens the swelling, who cuts, or cauterizes the corrupted part. He gives pain, it is true; but he only gives pain, that he may bring the patient on to health. He gives pain; but if he did not, he would do no good. Christ then by one word laid Saul low, and raised up Paul; that is, He laid low the proud, and raised up the humble. For what was the reason of his change of name, that whereas he was afore called Saul, he chose afterwards to be called Paul; but that he acknowledged in himself that the name of Saul when he was a persecutor, had been a name of pride? He chose therefore a humble name; to be called Paul, that is, the least. For Paul is, the least. Paul is nothing else but little. And now glorying in this name, and giving us a lesson of humility, he says, I am the least of the Apostles. Whence then, whence was he, but of the people of the Jews? Of them were the other Apostles, of them was Paul, of them were they whom the same Paul mentions, as having seen the Lord after His resurrection. For he says, That He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

4. Of this people too, of the people of the Jews, were they, who when Peter was speaking, setting forth the Passion, and Resurrection, and Divinity of Christ (after that the Holy Ghost had been received, when all they on whom the Holy Ghost had come, spoke with the tongues of all nations), being pricked in spirit as they heard him, sought counsel for their salvation, understanding as they did that they were guilty of the Blood of Christ; because they had crucified, and slain Him, in whose name though slain by them they saw such great miracles wrought; and saw the presence of the Holy Ghost. And so seeking counsel they received for answer; Repent, and be baptized every one of you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and your sins shall be forgiven you. Who should despair of the forgiveness of his sins, when the crime of killing Christ was forgiven to those who were guilty of it? They were converted from among this people of the Jews; were converted, and baptized. They came to the Lord's table, and in faith drank that Blood, which in their fury they had shed. Now in what sort they were converted, how decidedly, and how perfectly, the Acts of the Apostles show. For they sold all that they possessed, and laid the prices of their things at the Apostles' feet; and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need; and no man said that ought was his own, but they had all things common. And, They were, as it is written, of one heart and of one soul. Lo here are the sheep of whom He said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. For to them He exhibited His Presence, for them in the midst of their violence against Him He prayed as He was being crucified, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. The Physician understood how those frenzied men were in their madness putting the Physician to death, and in putting their Physician to death, though they knew it not, were preparing a medicine for themselves. For by the Lord so put to death are all we cured, by His Blood redeemed, by the Bread of His Body delivered from famine. This Presence then did Christ exhibit to the Jews. And so He said, I am not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel; that to them He might exhibit the Presence of His body; not that He might disregard, and pass over the sheep which He had among the Gentiles.

5. For to the Gentiles He went not Himself, but sent His disciples. And in this was fulfilled what the Prophet said; A people whom I have not known has served Me. See how deep, how clear, how express the prophecy is; a people whom I have not known, that is, to whom I have not exhibited My Presence, has served Me. How? It goes on to say, By the hearing of the ear they have obeyed Me: that is, they have believed, not by seeing, but by hearing. Therefore have the Gentiles the greater praise. For the others saw and slew Him; the Gentiles heard and believed. Now it was to call and gather together the Gentiles, that that might be fulfilled which we have just now chanted, Gather us from among the Gentiles, that we may confess to Your Name, and glory in Your praise, that the Apostle Paul was sent. He, the least, made great, not by himself, but by Him whom he once persecuted, was sent to the Gentiles, from a robber become a shepherd, from a wolf a sheep. He, the least Apostle, was sent to the Gentiles, and laboured much among the Gentiles, and through him the Gentiles believed. His Epistles are the witnesses.

6. Of this you have a very sacred figure in the Gospel also. A daughter of a ruler of the synagogue was really dead, and her father besought the Lord, that He would go to her; he had left her sick, and in extreme danger. The Lord set out to visit and heal the sick; in the mean time it was announced that she was dead, and it was told the father; Your daughter is dead, trouble not the Master. But the Lord who knew that He could raise the dead, did not deprive the despairing father of hope, and said to him, Fear not: only believe. So he set out to the maiden; and in the way a certain woman, who had suffered from an issue of blood, and in her lengthened illness had spent to no purpose all that she had upon physicians, pressed herself in, how she could, among the crowds. When she touched the border of His garment, she was made whole. And the Lord said, Who touched Me? The disciples who knew not what had taken place, and saw that He was thronged by the multitudes, and that He was troubling Himself about one single woman who had touched Him gently, answered in astonishment, The multitudes press You, and sayest Thou, Who touched Me? And He said, Somebody has touched Me? For the other press, she has touched. The many then rudely press the Body of Christ, few touch it healthfully. Somebody, says He, has touched Me, for I perceive that virtue is gone out of Me. And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she fell down at His feet, and confessed what had taken place. After this He set out again, and arrived whither He was going, and raised to life the young daughter of the ruler of the synagogue who was found to be dead.

7. This was a literal fact, and was fulfilled as it is related; but nevertheless these very things which were done by the Lord had some further signification, being (if we may so say) a sort of visible and significative words. And this is especially plain, in that place where He sought fruit on the tree out of season, and because He found none, dried up the tree by His curse. Unless this action be regarded as a figure, there is no good meaning in it; first to have sought fruit on that tree when it was not the season for fruit on any tree; and then even if it were now the time of fruit, what fault in the tree was it to have none? But because it signified, that He seeks not for leaves only, but for fruit also, that is, not for the words only, but for the deeds of men, by drying up that tree whereon he found only leaves, he signified their punishment who can speak good things, but will not do them. And so it is in this place also. For surely there is a mystery in it. He who foreknows all things says, Who touched Me? The Creator makes Himself like one who is ignorant; and He asks, who not only knew this, but who even foreknew all other things. Doubtless there is something which Christ would speak to us in this significant mystery.

8. That daughter of the ruler of the synagogue was a figure of the people of the Jews, for whose sake Christ had come, who said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But the woman who suffered from the issue of blood, figured the Church from among the Gentiles, to which Christ was not sent in His bodily presence. He was going to the former, He was intent on her recovery; meanwhile the latter runs to meet Him, touches His border as though He knew it not; that is, she is healed by Him who is in some sense absent. He says, Who touched Me? as though He would say; I do not know this people; A people whom I have not known has served Me. Some one has touched Me. For I perceive that virtue is gone out of Me; that is, that My Gospel has gone out and filled the whole world. Now it is the border that is touched, a small and outside part of the garment. Consider the Apostles as it were the garment of Christ. Among them Paul was the border; that is, the last and least. For he said of himself that he was both; I am the least of the Apostles. For he was called after them all, he believed after them all, he healed more than they all. The Lord was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But because a people whom He had not known, was also to serve Him, and to obey Him in the hearing of the ear, He made mention of them too when He was among the others. For the same Lord said in a certain place, Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, that there may be one fold and one shepherd.

9. Of these was this woman; therefore she was not refused, but only put off. I am not sent, says He, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And she was instant in her cries: she persevered, she knocked, as if she had already heard, Ask, and receive; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. She kept on, she knocked. For so the Lord when He spoke these words, Ask, and you shall receive; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; had also said before, Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you; that is, lest after despising your pearls, they should even ill use you. Cast not therefore before them what they despise.

10. And how distinguish we (as might be answered) who are swine, and who are dogs? This has been shown in the case of this woman. For He only answered to her entreaties, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. You are a dog, you are one of the Gentiles, you worship idols. But for dogs what is so proper as to lick stones? It is not therefore meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. Had she retired after these words, she had gone away as she had come, a dog; but by knocking she was made of a dog one of human kind. For she persevered in asking, and from that reproach as it were she manifested her humility, and obtained mercy. For she was not excited, nor incensed, because she was called a dog, as she asked the blessing, and prayed for mercy, but she said, Truth, Lord; You have called me a dog, and truly a dog I am, I acknowledge my name: it is the Truth that speaks: but I ought not on that account to be refused this blessing. Verily I am a dog; 'yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.' It is but a moderate and a small blessing I desire; I do not press to the table, I only seek for the crumbs.

11. See, Brethren, how the value of humility is set before us! The Lord had called her a dog; and she did not say, I am not, but she said, I am. And because she acknowledged herself to be a dog, immediately the Lord said, Woman, great is your faith; be it unto you even as you have asked. You have acknowledged yourself to be a dog, I now acknowledge you to be of human kind. O woman, great is your faith; you have asked, and sought, and knocked; receive, find, be it opened unto you. See, Brethren, how in this woman who was a Canaanite, that is, who came from among the Gentiles, and was a type, that is a figure, of the Church, the grace of humility has been eminently set before us. For the Jewish nation, to the end that it might be deprived of the grace of the Gospel, was puffed up with pride, because to them it had been vouchsafed to receive the Law, because out of this nation the Patriarchs had proceeded, the Prophets had sprung, Moses, the servant of God, had done the great miracles in Egypt which we have heard of in the Psalm, had led the people through the Red Sea, when the waters retired, and had received the Law, which he gave to this people. This was that whereupon the Jewish nation was lifted up, and through this very pride it happened that they were not willing to humble themselves to Christ the author of humility, and the restrainer of proud swelling, to God the Physician, who, being God, for this cause became Man, that man might know himself to be but man. O mighty remedy! If this remedy cure not pride, I know not what can cure it. He is God, and is made Man; He lays aside His Divinity, that is, in a manner sequestrates, hides, that is, what was His Own, and appears only in that He had taken to Him. Being God He is made man: and man will not acknowledge himself to be man, that is, will not acknowledge himself to be mortal, will not acknowledge himself to be frail, will not acknowledge himself to be a sinner, will not acknowledge himself to be sick, that so at least as sick he may seek the physician; but what is more perilous still, he fancies himself in sound health.

12. So then for this reason that people did not come to Him, that is by reason of pride; and the natural branches are said to be broken off from the olive tree, that is from that people founded by the Patriarchs; in other words, the Jews are for their punishment justly barren through the spirit of pride; and the wild olive is grafted into that olive tree. The wild olive tree is the people of the Gentiles. So says the Apostle, that the wild olive tree is grafted into the good olive tree, but the natural branches are broken off. Because of pride they were broken off: and the wild olive tree grafted in because of humility. This humility did the woman show forth when she said, Truth, Lord, I am a dog, I desire only the crumbs. In this humility also did the Centurion please Him; who when he desired that his servant might be healed by the Lord, and the Lord said, I will come and heal him, answered, Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof, but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. He did not receive Him into his house, but he had received Him already in his heart. The more humble, the more capacious, and the more full. For the hills drive back the water, but the valleys are filled by it. And what then, what said the Lord to those who followed Him after that he had said, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof? Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel; that is, in that people to whom I came, I have not found so great faith. And whence great? Great from being the least, that is, great from humility. I have not found so great faith; like a grain of mustard seed, which by how much smaller it is, by so much the more burning is it. Therefore did the Lord at once graft the wild olive into the good olive tree. He did it then when He said, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

13. Lastly, mark what follows. Therefore,— that is, because I have not found so great faith in Israel, that is, so great humility with faith —Therefore I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. Shall sit, that is, shall rest. For we must not form notions of carnal banquets there, or desire any such thing in that kingdom, as to change not vices for virtues, but only to make an exchange of vices. For it is one thing to desire the kingdom of heaven for the sake of wisdom and life eternal; another, for the sake of earthly felicity, as though there we should have it in more abundant and greater measure. If you think to be rich in that kingdom, you do not cut off, but only changest desire; and yet rich you will really be, and in none other place but there will you be rich; for here your want gathers together the abundance of things. Why have rich men much? Because they want much. A greater want heaps together as it were greater means; there want itself shall die. Then you shall be truly rich, when you shall be in want of nothing. For now you are not surely rich, and an Angel poor, who has not horses, and carriages, and servants. Why? Because he does not want any of these: because in proportion to his greater strength, is his want the less. Therefore there there are riches, and the true riches. Figure not to yourselves then banquets of this earth in that place. For the banquets of this world are daily medicines; they are necessary for a kind of sickness we have, wherewith we are born. This sickness every one is sensible of, when the hour for refreshment is passed. Would you see how great a sickness this is, that as an acute fever would be fatal in seven days? Do not fancy yourself then to be in health. Immortality will be health. For this present is only one long sickness. Because you support your disease by daily medicines; you fancy yourself in health; take away the medicines, and then see what you can do.

14. For from the moment we are born, we must needs be dying. This disease must needs bring us to death. This indeed physicians say when they examine their patients. For instance, This man has the dropsy, he is dying; this disease cannot be cured. This man has the leprosy: this disease too cannot be cured. He is in a consumption. Who can cure this? He must needs die, he must perish. See, the physician has now pronounced that he is in a consumption; that he cannot but die; and yet sometimes the dropsical patient does not die of his disease, and the leprous does not die of his, nor the consumptive patient of his; but now it is absolutely necessary that every one who is born should die of this. He dies of it, he cannot do otherwise. This the physician and the unskilled both pronounce upon; and though he die somewhat more slowly, does he on that account not die? Where then is there true health, except where there is true immortality? But if it be true immortality, and no corruption, no wasting, what need will there be there of nourishment? Therefore, when you hear it said, They shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; get not your body, but your soul in order. There shall you be filled; and this inner man has its proper food. In relation to it is it said, Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. And so truly filled shall they be that they shall hunger no more.

15. Therefore did the Lord graft in at once the wild olive tree, when He said, Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven; that is, they shall be grafted into the good olive tree. For Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, are the roots of this olive tree; but the children of the kingdom, that is, the unbelieving Jews, shall go away into outer darkness. The natural branches shall be broken off, that the wild olive tree may be grafted in. Now why did the natural branches deserve to be cut off, except for pride? Why the wild olive tree to be grafted in, except for humility? Whence also that woman said, Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. And thereupon she hears, O woman, great is your faith. And so again that centurion, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. Let us then learn, or let us hold fast, humility. If we have it not yet, let us learn it; if we have it, let us not lose it. If we have it not yet, let us have it, that we may be grafted in; if we have it already, let us hold it fast, that we may not be cut off.

Sermon 28 on the New Testament

[LXXVIII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 17:1 , After six days Jesus takes with Him Peter, and James, and John his brother, etc.

1. We must now look into and treat of that vision which the Lord showed on the mount. For it is this of which He had said, Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man in His Kingdom. Then began the passage which has just been read. When He had said this, after six days He took three disciples, Peter, and James, and John, and went up into a mountain. These three were those some, of whom He had said, There be some here which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of Man in His kingdom. There is no small difficulty here. For that mount was not the whole extent of His kingdom. What is a mountain to Him who possesses the heavens? Which we not only read He does, but in some sort see it with the eyes of the heart. He calls that His kingdom, which in many places He calls the kingdom of heaven. Now the kingdom of heaven is the kingdom of the saints. For the heavens declare the glory of God. And of these heavens it is immediately said in the Psalm, There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their sound is gone out through all the earth, and their words unto the end of the world. Whose words, but of the heavens? And of the Apostles, and all faithful preachers of the word of God. These heavens therefore shall reign together with Him who made the heavens. Now consider what was done, that this might be made manifest.

2. The Lord Jesus Himself shone bright as the sun; His raiment became white as the snow; and Moses and Elias talked with Him. Jesus Himself indeed shone as the sun, signifying that He is the light which lights every man that comes into the world. What this sun is to the eyes of the flesh, that is He to the eyes of the heart; and what that is to the flesh of men, that is He to their hearts. Now His raiment is His Church. For if the raiment be not held together by him who puts it on, it will fall off. Of this raiment, Paul was as it were a sort of last border. For he says himself, I am the least of the Apostles. And in another place, I am the last of the Apostles. Now in a garment the border is the last and least part. Wherefore as that woman which suffered from an issue of blood, when she had touched the Lord's border was made whole, so the Church which came from out of the Gentiles, was made whole by the preaching of Paul. What wonder if the Church is signified by white raiment, when you hear the Prophet Isaiah saying, Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow? Moses and Elias, that is, the Law and the Prophets, what avail they, except they converse with the Lord? Except they give witness to the Lord, who would read the Law or the Prophets? Mark how briefly the Apostle expresses this; For by the Law is the knowledge of sin; but now the righteousness of God without the Law is manifested: behold the sun; being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, behold the shining of the Sun.

3. Peter sees this, and as a man savouring the things of men says, Lord, it is good for us to be here. He had been wearied with the multitude, he had found now the mountain's solitude; there he had Christ the Bread of the soul. What! should he depart thence again to travail and pains, possessed of a holy love to Godward, and thereby of a good conversation? He wished well for himself; and so he added, If You will, let us make here three tabernacles; one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. To this the Lord made no answer; but notwithstanding Peter was answered. For while he yet spoke, a bright cloud came, and overshadowed them. He desired three tabernacles; the heavenly answer showed him that we have One, which human judgment desired to divide. Christ, the Word of God, the Word of God in the Law, the Word in the Prophets. Why, Peter, do you seek to divide them? It were more fitting for you to join them. You seek three; understand that they are but One.

4. As the cloud then overshadowed them, and in a way made one tabernacle for them, a voice also sounded out of the cloud, which said, This is My beloved Son. Moses was there; Elias was there; yet it was not said, These are My beloved sons. For the Only Son is one thing; adopted sons another. He was singled out in whom the Law and the prophets glorified. This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear Him! Because you have heard Him in the Prophets, and you have heard Him in the Law. And where have ye not heard Him? When they heard this, they fell to the earth. See then in the Church is exhibited to us the Kingdom of God. Here is the Lord, here the Law and the Prophets; but the Lord as the Lord; the Law in Moses, Prophecy in Elias; only they as servants and as ministers. They as vessels: He as the fountain: Moses and the Prophets spoke, and wrote; but when they poured out, they were filled from Him.

5. But the Lord stretched out His hand, and raised them as they lay. And then they saw no man, save Jesus only. What does this mean? When the Apostle was being read, you heard, For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. And tongues shall cease, when that which we now hope for and believe shall come. In then that they fell to the earth, they signified that we die, for it was said to the flesh, Earth you are, and unto earth shall you return. But when the Lord raised them up, He signified the resurrection. After the resurrection, what is the Law to you? What Prophecy? Therefore neither Moses nor Elias is seen. He only remains to you, Who in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He remains to you, that God may be all in all. Moses will be there; but now no more the Law. We shall see Elias there too; but now no more the Prophet. For the Law and the Prophets have only given witness to Christ, that it behooved Him to suffer, and to rise again from the dead the third day, and to enter into His glory. And in this glory is fulfilled what He has promised to them that love Him, He that loves Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him. And as if it were said, What will You give him, seeing You will love him? And I will manifest Myself unto him. Great gift! great promise! God does not reserve for you as a reward anything of His own, but Himself. O you covetous one; why does not what Christ promises suffice you? Thou dost seem to yourself to be rich; yet if you have not God, what have you? Another is poor, yet if he has God, what has he not?

6. Come down, Peter: you were desiring to rest on the mount; come down, preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. Endure, labour hard, bear your measure of torture; that you may possess what is meant by the white raiment of the Lord, through the brightness and the beauty of an upright labouring in charity. For when the Apostle was being read we heard in praise of charity, She seeks not her own. She seeks not her own; since she gives what she possesses. In another place there is more danger in the expression, if you do not understand it right. For the Apostle, charging the faithful members of Christ after this rule of charity, says, Let no man seek his own, but another's. For on hearing this, covetousness is ready with its deceits, that in a matter of business under pretence of seeking another's, it may defraud a man, and so, seek not his own, but another's. But let covetousness restrain itself, let justice come forth; so let us hear and understand. It is to charity that it is said, Let no man seek his own, but another's. Now, O you covetous one, if you will still resist, and twist the precept rather to this point, that you should covet what is another's; then lose what is your own. But as I know you well, you wish to have both your own and another's. You will commit fraud that you may have what is another's; submit then to robbery that you may lose your own. Thou dost not wish to seek your own, but then you take away what is another's. Now if you do this, you do not well. Hear and listen, you covetous one: the Apostle explains to you in another place more clearly this that he said, Let no man seek his own, but another's. He says of himself, Not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. This Peter understood not yet when he desired to live on the mount with Christ. He was reserving this for you, Peter, after death. But now He says Himself, Come down, to labour in the earth; in the earth to serve, to be despised, and crucified in the earth. The Life came down, that He might be slain; the Bread came down, that He might hunger; the Way came down, that life might be wearied in the way; the Fountain came down, that He might thirst; and do you refuse to labour? 'Seek not your own.' Have charity, preach the truth; so shall you come to eternity, where you shall find security.

Sermon 29 on the New Testament

[LXXIX. Ben.]

Again on the words of the Gospel, Matthew 17 ., where Jesus showed Himself on the mount to His three disciples.

1. We heard when the Holy Gospel was being read of the great vision on the mount, in which Jesus showed Himself to the three disciples, Peter, James, and John. His face did shine as the sun: this is a figure of the shining of the Gospel. His raiment was white as the snow: this is a figure of the purity of the Church, to which it was said by the Prophet, Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow. Elias and Moses were talking with Him; because the grace of the Gospel receives witness from the Law and the Prophets. The Law is represented in Moses, the Prophets in Elias; to speak briefly. For there are the mercies of God vouchsafed through a holy Martyr to be rehearsed. Let us give ear. Peter desired three tabernacles to be made, one for Moses, one for Elias, and one for Christ. The solitude of the mountain had charms for him; he had been wearied with the tumult of the world's business. But why sought he three tabernacles, but because he knew not as yet the unity of the Law, and of Prophecy, and of the Gospel? Lastly, he was corrected by the cloud, While he yet spoke, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. Lo, the cloud has made one tabernacle; wherefore did you seek for three? And a voice came out of the cloud, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him. Elias speaks; but hear Him; Moses speaks; but hear Him. The Prophets speak, the Law speaks; but hear Him. who is the voice of the Law, and the tongue of the Prophets. He spoke in them, and when He vouchsafed so to do, He appeared in His own person. Hear ye Him: let us then hear Him. When the Gospel spoke, think it was the cloud: from thence has the voice sounded out to us. Let us hear Him; that is, let us do what He says, let us hope for what He has promised.

Sermon 30 on the New Testament

[LXXX. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 17:19 , Why could not we cast it out? Etc., and on prayer.

1. Our Lord Jesus Christ reproved unbelief even in His own disciples, as we heard just now when the Gospel was being read. For when they had said, Why could not we cast him out? He answered, Because of your unbelief. If the Apostles were unbelievers, who is a believer? What must the lambs do, if the rams totter? Yet the mercy of the Lord did not disdain them in their unbelief; but reproved, nourished, perfected, crowned them. For they themselves, as mindful of their own weakness, said to Him, as we read in a certain place in the Gospel, Lord, increase our faith. Lord, say they, increase our faith. The knowing that they had a deficiency, was the first advantage; a greater happiness still, to know who it was of whom they were asking. Lord, say they, increase our faith. See, if they did not bring their hearts as it were to the fountain, and knocked that that might be opened to them, out of which they might fill them. For He would that men should knock at Him, not that He might repel those that knock, but that He might exercise those who long.

2. For do you think, Brethren, that God does not know what is needful for you? He knows and prevents our desires, who knows our want. And so when He taught His disciples to pray, and warned them not to use many words in prayer, He says, Use not many words; for your Father knows what things you have need of before ye ask Him. Now the Lord says something different from this. What is this? Because He misliked that we should use many words in prayer, He said to us, When ye pray, use not many words; for your Father knows what things you have need of before ye ask Him. If our Father knows what things we have need of before we ask Him, why do we use even few words? What is the use of prayer at all, if our Father knows already what things we have need of? He says to one, Do not make your prayer to Me at great length; for I know what is needful for you. If so, Lord, why should I so much as pray at all? You would not that I should use long prayers, yea rather Thou dost even bid me to use near none at all. And then what means that precept in another place? For He who says, Use not many words in prayer, says in another place, Ask, and it shall be given you. And that you might not think that this first precept to ask was given cursorily, He added, Seek, and you shall find. And that you might not think that this too was cursorily given, see what He added further, see with what He finished. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you: see what He added. He would have you ask that you may receive, and seek that you may find, and knock that you may enter in. Seeing then that our Father knows already what is needful for us, how and why do we ask? Why seek? Why knock? Why weary ourselves in asking, and seeking, and knocking, to instruct Him who knows already? And in another place the words of the Lord are, Men ought always to pray, and not to faint. If men ought always to pray, how does He say, Use not many words? How can I always pray, if I so quickly make an end? Here Thou biddest me to finish quickly; there always to pray and not to faint: what does this mean? Now that you may understand this, ask, seek, knock. For for this cause is it closed, not to shut you out, but to exercise you. Therefore, brethren, ought we to exhort to prayer, both ourselves and you. For other hope have we none amid the manifold evils of this present world, than to knock in prayer, to believe and to maintain the belief firm in the heart, that your Father only does not give you what He knows is not expedient for you. For you know what you desire; He knows what is good for you. Imagine yourself under a physician, and in weak health, as is the very truth; for all this life of ours is a weakness; and a long life is nothing else but a prolonged weakness. Imagine yourself then to be sick under the physician's hand. You have a desire to ask your physician leave to drink a draught of fresh wine. You are not prohibited from asking, for it may chance to do you no harm, or even good to receive it. Do not then hesitate to ask; ask, hesitate not; but if you receive not, do not take it to heart. Now if you would act thus in the hands of a man, the physician of the body, how much more in the hands of God, who is the Physician, the Creator, and Restorer, both of your body and soul?

3. Wherefore, see how the Lord in this passage exhorted His disciples to prayer, when He said, You could not cast out this devil because of your unbelief. For then exhorting them to prayer He ended thus; this kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting. If a man must pray, to cast out devils from another, how much more to cast out his own covetousness? How much more to cast out his own drunkenness? How much more to cast out his own luxuriousness? How much more to cast out his own uncleanness? How many things in a man are there, which if they are persevered in, allow of no admission into the kingdom of heaven! Consider, Brethren, how a physician is entreated for the preservation of temporal health, how, if any one is desperately ill, is he ashamed or slow to throw himself at a man's feet? To bathe in tears the footsteps of any very able chief physician? And what if the physician say to him, You can not else be cured, except I bind you, and use the fire and knife? He will answer, Do what you will, only cure me. With what eagerness does he long for the health of a few days, fleeting as a vapour, that for it he is content to be bound, and submit to the fire, and knife, and to be watched, that he neither eat nor drink what, or when, he pleases! All this he will endure, that he may die a little later; and yet he will not endure ever so little, that he may never die. If God, who is the Heavenly Physician over us, says to you, Will you be cured? what would you say but Yes. Or it may be you would not say so, because you fancy yourself to be in health, that is, because you are more grievously sick.

4. For if we suppose two sick persons, one who implores the physician with tears, the other, who in his sickness with infatuation derides him; he will hold out hope to the one that weeps, and will deplore the case of the other that laughs. Why? But because the sounder in health he thinks himself, the more dangerous his sickness is! This was the case with the Jews. Christ came to them that were sick; He found them all sick. Let no one then flatter himself on his healthful state, lest the physician give him up. He found all sick; it is the Apostle's judgment, For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Though He found them all sick, yet were there two sorts of sick folk. The one came to the Physician, clave to Christ, heard, honoured, followed Him, were converted. He received all without disdaining any, for to heal them, who healed of free favour, who cured by Almighty power. When then He received them, and joined them to Himself to be healed, they rejoiced. But there was another sort of sick, who had already become infatuated through the sickness of iniquity, and did not know themselves to be sick; they mocked Him, because He received the sick, and said to His disciples, Lo, what manner of man is your Master, who eats with publicans and sinners. And He who knew what and who they were answered them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. And He showed them who the whole were, and who the sick. I am not come, He says, to call the righteous, but sinners. If sinners, He would say, do not come to Me, wherefore am I come? For whose sake am I come? If all are whole, wherefore has so great a Physician come down from heaven? Why has He prepared for us a medicine not out of His stores, but of His own blood? That sort of sick then who had a milder sickness, who felt themselves to be sick, clave to the Physician, that they might be healed. But they whose sickness was more dangerous mocked the Physician, and abused the sick. Whither did their frenzy proceed at last? To seize the Physician, bind, scourge, crown Him with thorns, hang Him upon a Tree, kill Him on the Cross! Why do you marvel? The sick slew the Physician; but the Physician by being slain healed the frantic patient.

5. For first, not forgetting on the Cross His own character, and manifesting forth His patience to us, and giving us an example of love to our enemies; as He saw them raging round Him, who had known their disease, seeing He was the Physician, who had known the frenzy by which they had become infatuated, He said at once to the Father, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. Now suppose ye that those Jews were not malignant, cruel, bloody, turbulent, and enemies of the Son of God? Suppose ye that that cry, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, was ineffectual and in vain? He saw them all, but He knew among them those that should one day be His. In a word, He died, because it was so expedient, that by His Death He might kill death. God died, that an exchange might be effected by a kind of heavenly contract, that man might not see death. For Christ is God, but He died not in that Nature in which He is God. For the same Person is God and man; for God and man is one Christ. The human nature was assumed, that we might be changed for the better; He did not degrade the Divine Nature down to the lower. For He assumed that which He was not, He did not lose that which He was. Forasmuch then as He is both God and man, being pleased that we should live by that which was His, He died in that which was ours. For He had nothing Himself, whereby He could die; nor had we anything whereby we could live. For what was He who had nothing whereby He could die? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. If you seek for anything in God whereby He may die, you will not find it. But we all die, who are flesh; men bearing about sinful flesh. Seek out for that whereby sin may live; it has it not. So then neither could He have death in that which was His own, nor we life in that which was our own; but we have life from that which is His, He death from what is ours. What an exchange! What has He given, and what received? Men who trade enter into commercial intercourse for exchange of things. For ancient commerce was only an exchange of things. A man gave what he had, and received what he had not. For example, he had wheat, but had no barley; another had barley, but no wheat; the former gave the wheat which he had, and received the barley which he had not. How simple it was that the larger quantity should make up for the cheaper sort! So then another man gives barley, to receive wheat; lastly, another gives lead, to receive silver, only he gives much lead against a little silver; another gives wool, to receive a ready-made garment. And who can enumerate all these exchanges? But no one gives life to receive death. Not in vain then was the voice of the Physician as He hung upon the tree. For in order that He might die for us because the Word could not die, The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. He hung upon the Cross, but in the flesh. There was the meanness, which the Jews despised; there the dearness, by which the Jews were delivered. For for them was it said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And that voice was not in vain. He died, was buried, rose again, having passed forty days with His disciples, He ascended into heaven, He sent the Holy Ghost on them, who waited for the promise. They were filled with the Holy Ghost, whom they had received, and began to speak with the tongues of all nations. Then the Jews who were present, amazed that unlearned and ignorant men, whom they had known as brought up among them with one tongue, should in the Name of Christ speak in all tongues, were in astonishment, and learned from Peter's words whence this gift came. He gave it, who hung upon the tree. He gave it, who was derided as He hung upon the tree, that from His seat in heaven He might give the Holy Spirit. They of whom He had said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do, heard, believed. They believed, were baptized, and their conversion was effected. What conversion? In faith they drank the Blood of Christ, which in fury they had shed.

6. Therefore, to finish this discourse with that with which we began it, let us pray, and let us rely on God; let us live as He enjoins; and when we totter in this life, let us call upon Him as the disciples called, saying, Lord, increase our faith. Peter both put his trust in Him, and tottered; but notwithstanding he was not disregarded and left to sink, but was lifted up and raised. For his trust whence was it? Not from anything of his own; but from what was the Lord's. How? Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto You on the water. For on the water was the Lord walking. If it be Thou, bid me come unto You on the water. For I know that if it be Thou, Thou biddest, and it is done. And He says, Come. He went down at His bidding, but in his own weakness he was afraid. Nevertheless when he was afraid, he cried out, Lord, save me. Then the Lord took him by the hand, and said, O you of little faith, wherefore did you doubt? He first invited him, He delivered him, as he tottered, and stumbled; that it might be fulfilled which was said in the Psalm, If I said my foot has slipped, Your mercy, O Lord, aided me.

7. There are then two kinds of blessings, temporal and eternal. Temporal blessings are health, substance, honour, friends, a home, children, a wife, and the other things of this life in which we are sojourners. Put we up then in the hostelry of this life as travellers passing on, and not as owners intending to remain. But eternal blessings are, first, eternal life itself, the incorruption and immortality of body and soul, the society of Angels, the heavenly city, glory unfailing, Father and father-land, the former without death, the latter without a foe. These blessings let us desire with all eagerness, let us ask with all perseverance, not with length of words, but with the witness of groans. Longing desire prays always, though the tongue be silent. If you are ever longing, you are ever praying. When sleeps prayer? When desire grows cold. So then let us beg for these eternal blessings with all eager desire, let us seek for those good things with an entire earnestness, let us ask for those good things with all assurance. For those good things do profit him that has them, they cannot harm him. But those other temporal good things sometimes profit, and sometimes harm. Poverty has profited many, and wealth has harmed many; a private life has profited many, and exalted honour has harmed many. And again, money has profiled some, honourable distinction has profited some; profited them who use them well; but from those who use them ill, the not withdrawing them has harmed them more. And so, Brethren, let us ask for those temporal blessings too, but in moderation, being sure that if we do receive them, He gives them, who knows what is expedient for us. You have asked, and what you have asked, has not been given you? Trust your Father, who would give it you, were it expedient for you. Lo! judge in this case by your own self. For such as your son who knows not the ways of men is in regard to you, such in regard to the Lord art you yourself, who know not the things of God. Lo, your son cries a whole day before you, that you would give him a knife, or a sword; you refuse to give it him, you will not give it, you disregard his tears, lest you should have to bewail his death. Let him cry, and beat himself, or throw himself upon the ground, that you may set him on horseback; you will not do it, because he does not know how to govern the horse, he may throw and kill him. To whom you refuse a part, you are reserving the whole. But that he may grow up, and possess the whole in safety, you give him not that little thing which is full of peril to him.

8. And so, Brethren, we say, pray as much as you are able. Evils abound, and God has willed that evils should abound. Would that evil men did not abound, and then evils would not abound. Bad times! Troublesome times! This men are saying. Let our lives be good; and the times are good. We make our times; such as we are, such are the times. But what can we do? We cannot, it may be, convert the mass of men to a good life. But let the few who do give ear live well; let the few who live well endure the many who live ill. They are the grain, they are in the floor; in the floor they can have the chaff with them, they will not have them in the barn. Let them endure what they would not, that they may come to what they would. Wherefore are we sad, and blame we God? Evils abound in the world, in order that the world may not engage our love. Great men, faithful saints were they who have despised the world with all its attractions; we are not able to despise it even disfigured as it is. The world is evil, lo, it is evil, and yet it is loved as though it were good. But what is this evil world? For the heavens and the earth, and the waters, and the things that are therein, the fish, and birds, and trees, are not evil. All these are good: but it is evil men who make this evil world. Yet as we cannot be without evil men, let us, as I have said, while we live pour out our groans before the Lord our God, and endure the evils, that we may attain to the things that are good. Let us not find fault with the Master of the household; for He is loving to us. He bears us, and not we him. He knows how to govern what He made; do what He has bidden, and hope for what He has promised.

Sermon 31 on the New Testament

[LXXXI. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 18:7 , where we are admonished to beware of the offenses of the world.

1. The divine lessons, which we have just heard as they were being read, warn us to gather in a stock of virtues, to fortify a Christian heart, against the offenses which were predicted to come, and this from the mercy of the Lord. For what is man, says Scripture, saving that You are mindful of him? Woe unto the world because of offenses, says the Lord; the Truth says so; He alarms and warns us, He would not have us to be off our guard; for surely He would not make us desperate. Against this woe, against this evil, that is, which is to be feared, and dreaded, and guarded against, Scripture counsels, and exhorts, and instructs us in that place, where it is said, Great praise have they who love Your law, and nothing is an offense to them. He has shown us an enemy to be guarded against, but He has not omitted to show us also a wall of defense. You were thinking, as you heard, Woe unto the world because of offenses, whither you might go beyond the world, that you might not be exposed to offenses. Therefore to avoid offenses, whither will you go beyond the world, unless you fly to Him who made the world? And how shall we be able to fly to Him who made the world, unless we give ear to His law which is preached everywhere? And to give ear to it is but a small matter, unless we love it. For divine Scripture in making you secure against offenses does not say, Great peace have they who hear Your law. For not the hearers of the law are just before God. But because the doers of the law shall be justified, and, faith works by love: it says, Great peace have they who love Your law, and nothing is an offense to them. To this sentiment also agrees the passage which we have chanted in course; But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. Because, great peace have they who love Your law. For these meek ones are they who love the law of God. For, Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O Lord, and teachest him out of Your law, that You may give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be dug for the sinner. How diverse seem those words of Scripture, yet into one meaning do they so flow and meet together, that whatsoever out of that most rich fountain you can hear, so that you acquiesce therein, and art in loving harmony with the truth, you will be at once filled with peace; glowing with love, and fortified against offenses.

2. It is our place then to see, or seek, or learn, how we must be meek; and we are guided by that which I have just brought forward out of the Scriptures, to find what we are in quest of. Be attentive then, Beloved, for a little while; it is a weighty matter that is in hand, that we may be meek; a necessary thing in the adversities of life. But it is not the adverse circumstances of this life which are called offenses; but mark what offenses are. A man, for instance, under some hard necessity is weighed down by a press of trouble. That he is weighed down with a press of trouble, is no offense. By such pressure were even Martyrs pressed, but not oppressed. Of an offense beware, but of a press of trouble not so much. The last presses you, an offense oppresses you. What then is the difference between the two? In the press of trouble you made ready to maintain patience, to hold fast constancy, not to abandon faith, not to consent to sin. This if you maintain, or shall have maintained, the trouble that presses you shall not be your fall; but that press of trouble shall avail to the same end as in the oil press, not to destroy the olive, but to extract the oil. In a word, if in this trouble that presses you you ascribe praise unto God, how useful will the press be to you, whereby such oil is pressed out! Under such a press the Apostles sat in chains, and in that press they sang a hymn to God. What precious oil was this that was pressed and forced out! Beneath a heavy press did Job sit on the dunghill, without resource, without help, without substance, without children; full, but of worms only, as far, that is, as concerned the outward man, but because he too was full of God within, he praised God, and that press was no offense to him. Where then was the offense? When his wife came to him and said, Speak a word against God, and die. When all had been taken from him by the devil, an Eve was reserved for the exercised sufferer, not to console but to tempt her husband. See then where the offense was. She exaggerated his miseries, and her miseries too with his, and began to persuade him to blaspheme. But he who was meek, because God had taught him out of His law, and given him rest from the days of adversity; had great peace in his heart as loving the law of God, and nothing was an offense to him. She was an offense, but not to him. In a word, behold the meek man, behold one taught in the law of God, the eternal law of God I mean. For that law on tables was not yet given to the Jews in the time of Job, but in the hearts of the godly there remained still the eternal law, from which that which was given to the people was copied. Because then by the law of God he had rest given him from the days of adversity, and had great peace as loving the law of God, behold how meek he is, and what he answers. Learn hereby what I propose to enquire; who are the meek. You speak, he says, as one of the foolish women speaks. If we have received good from the hand of the Lord, shall we not bear the evil?

3. We have heard by an example who the meek are: let us, if we can, define them in words. The meek are they, to whom in all their good deeds, in all the things they do well, nothing is pleasing but God; to whom in all the evils they suffer, God is not displeasing. Now, Brethren, attend to this rule, to this pattern; let us stretch ourselves out to it, let us seek for increase, that we may fill it. For what does it profit, that we plant, and water, except God shall give the increase? For neither is he that plants anything, neither he that waters; but God that gives the increase. Give ear, whosoever you are, that would be meek, who would have rest from the days of adversity, who lovest the law of God, that there may be no offense unto you, and that you may have great peace, that you may possess the earth, and delight in the multitude of peace; give ear, whosoever you are that would be meek. Whatsoever good you do, be not pleased with yourself. For God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble. So then whatever good you do, let nought but God be pleasing to you; whatever evil you suffer, let not God be displeasing to you. What do you need more? Do this, and you shall live. The days of adversity shall not overwhelm you; you shall escape that which is said, Woe unto the world because of offenses. For to what world is there woe because of offenses, but to that of which it is said, And the world knew Him not? Not to that world of which it is said, God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. There is an evil world, and there is a good world; the evil world, are all the evil men in this world; and the good world, all the good in this world. As we observe frequently with a field. This field is full: of what? Of wheat. Yet we say also, and say truly too, This field is full of chaff. So with a tree, it is full of fruit. Another says, it is full of leaves. And both he who says it is full of fruit, says true; and he who says it is full of leaves, says true. Neither has the full display of leaves taken away the room for the fruit, nor the full display of the fruit driven off the abundance of leaves. It is full of both; but the one the wind searches out, the other the husbandman gathers in. So therefore when you hear, Woe unto the world because of offenses, be not afraid; love the law of God, nothing shall be an offense to you.

4. But your wife comes to you advising you to some evil thing. Thou dost love her as a wife should be loved; she is one of your members. But if your eye offend you, if your hand offend you, if your foot offend you, you have just heard the Gospel, cut them off, and cast them from you. Whosoever he be that is dear to you, whosoever he be that is held in high estimation by you, let him be so long of high esteem with you, so long your beloved member, as he shall not begin to offend you, that is, to advise you to any evil. Hear now how that this is the meaning of offense. I have brought forward the example of Job and his wife; but there the word offense did not occur. Hear the Gospel: when the Lord prophesied of His Passion, Peter began to persuade him not to suffer. Get behind Me, Satan, you are an offense to Me. Here undoubtedly the Lord who has given you an example of life, has taught you both what an offense is, and how an offense is to be avoided. Him to whom He had a little while before said, Blessed are you, Simon Bar-jona; He had shown to be His member. But when he begins to be an offense, He cuts off the member; only He restored the member, and put it into its place again. He then will be an offense to you, who shall begin to persuade you to any evil thing. And here, Beloved, take heed; this takes place for the most part not through any evil will, but through a mistaken good will. Your friend who loves you, and is loved by you again, your father, your brother, your child, your wife, sees you in an evil case, and would have you do what is evil. What do I mean by sees you in an evil case? Sees you in some press of trouble. This pressure it may be you are suffering for righteousness' sake; art suffering it because you will not give false witness. I would speak merely by way of illustration. Examples abound; for woe to the world, because of offenses. See, for instance, some powerful person, to cover his rapine and plunder, asks of you the service of a false witness. You refuse: refuse the false oath, lest you should deny Him that is true. That I may not dwell long on this, he is angry, he is powerful, he oppresses you: a friend comes who would not have you in this press of trouble, in this evil case; I pray you, do what is told you; what great matter is it? And then perhaps as Satan with the Lord, It is written of You, He shall give His Angels charge concerning You, that Thou dash not Your foot against a stone. Perhaps too this friend of yours, because he sees you are a Christian, wishes to persuade you out of the Law to do what he thinks you ought to do. Do what the other tells. What? Do what the other wishes. But it is a lie, it is false. Well, have you not read, 'All men are liar.'? Now is he an offense. He is a friend, what will you do? He is an eye, he is a hand: Cut it off, and cast it from you. What is, cut it off, and cast it from you? Consent not to him. For members in our body make up unity by consent, by consent they live, by consent are joined together one with the other. Where there is dissent, there is disease, or a sore. He is then one of your members; you will love him. But he is an offense to you; Cut him off, and cast him from you. Consent not to him; drive him off from your ears, it may be he will return amended.

5. And how will you do this that I say, Cut him off, and cast him from you, and so, it may be, amend him? Answer me, how you are going to do it? He wished to persuade you out of the Law to tell a lie. For he said, speak. And perhaps he did not dare to say, speak a lie; but thus, speak what the other wishes. You say, But it is a lie. And he to excuse it, says, All men are liars. Then do you, my brother, say against this, The mouth that lies slays the soul. Mark, it is no light thing you have heard, The mouth that lies slays the soul. What can that powerful enemy, who oppresses me, do to me, that you pity me, and my condition, and would not have me be in this evil case; whereas you would that I should be evil? What can that powerful man do to me, and what can he oppress? The flesh. He can oppress your body, you will say: I grant he may oppress it to destruction. Still how much more mildly does he deal with me, than I should with myself were I to lie! He kills my flesh; I kill my soul. He in his power and anger slays the body; the mouth that lies slays the soul. He slays the body; and die it must, though it should not be slain; but the soul which iniquity slays not, the truth receives forever. Preserve then what you can preserve; and let that perish which must perish sometime or other. You have given an answer then, but you have not solved the All men are liars. Make answer to him to this too, that he may not fancy that he has said anything to persuade to lying, in bringing a testimony out of the Law; so urging you out of the Law against the Law. For it is written in the Law, You shall not bear false witness; and it is written in the Law, All men are liars. Recur then to that which I just lately suggested, when I defined in words as best I could the meek man. He is meek to whom in all things that he does well, nothing but God is pleasing, and in all the evils which he suffers, God is not displeasing. Make answer then to him who says, Lie, for it is written, All men are liars: I will not lie, for it is written, The mouth that lies slays the soul. I will not lie, because it is written, You shall destroy them that speak lying. I will not lie, because it is written, You shall not bear false witness. Though he whom I displease by the truth harass my body with oppressions, I will give ear to my Lord, Fear not them which kill the body.

6. How then are all men liars? What! You are not a man, I suppose? Answer quickly and truly. And O that I may not be a man, that so I may not be a liar. For see; God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are all together become unprofitable: there is none that does good, no not even one. Why? Because they wished to be sons of men. But in order that he might deliver them from these iniquities, cure, heal, change, the sons of men; he gave them power to become the sons of God. What marvel then! You were men, if we were the sons of men; you were all men, and were liars, for, All men are liars. The grace of God came to you, and gave you power to become the sons of God. Hear the voice of My Father saying, I have said, You are gods; and you are all the children of the Most High. Since then they are men, and the sons of men, if they are not the children of the Most High, they are liars, for, all men are liars. If they are the sons of God, if they have been redeemed by the Saviour's grace, if purchased with His precious Blood, if born again of water and of the Spirit, if predestinated to the inheritance of heaven, then indeed are they children of God. And so thereby are gods. What then would a lie have to do with you? For Adam was a mere man, Christ, man and God; God, the Creator of all creation. Adam a mere man, the Man Christ, the Mediator with God, the Only Son of the Father, the God-man. Lo, you, O man, are far from God, and God is far above man; between them the God-man placed Himself. Acknowledge Christ, and by Him as Man ascend up to God.

7. Being then now reformed, and, if my words have been so blessed, meek, let us hold fast our profession without wavering. Let us love the law of God, that we may escape that which is written, Woe unto the world because of offenses. Now I would say a few words about offenses, of which the world is full, and how it is that offenses thicken, pressing troubles abound. The world is laid waste, the winepress is trodden. Ah! Christians, heavenly shoot, you strangers on the earth, who seek a city in heaven, who long to be associated with the holy Angels; understand that you have come here on this condition only, that you should soon depart. You are passing on through the world, endeavouring to reach Him who created it. Let not the lovers of the world, who wish to remain in the world, and yet, whether they will or no, are compelled to move from it; let them not disturb you, let them not deceive nor seduce you. These pressing troubles are not offenses. Be righteous, and they will be only exercises. Tribulation comes; it will be as you choose it, either an exercise, or a condemnation. Such as it shall find you to be, will it be. Tribulation is a fire; does it find you gold? It takes away the filth: does it find you chaff? It turns it into ashes. The pressing troubles then which abound are not offenses. But what are offenses? Those expressions, those words in which we are thus addressed. See what Christian times bring about; lo, these are the true offenses. For this is said to you, to this end, that if you love the world, you may blaspheme Christ. And this he says to you who is your friend, and counsellor; and so your eye. This he says to you who ministers to you, and shares your labours, and so your hand. This he says to you it may be who supports you, who lifts you up from a low earthly state; and so your foot. Cast them all aside, cut them off, throw them all away from you; consent not unto them. Answer such men, as he who was advised to give false witness answered. So do you answer too; say to the man who says to you, See, it is in Christian times that there are such pressing troubles; that the whole world is laid waste; answer him, And this Christ foretold me, before it came to pass.

8. For wherefore are you disturbed? Your heart is disturbed by the pressing troubles of the world, as that ship was, in which Christ was asleep. Lo! What is the cause, stout-hearted man, that your heart is disturbed? That ship in which Christ is asleep, is the heart in which faith is asleep. For what new thing, what new thing, I ask, is told you, Christian? In Christian times is the world laid waste, the world is failing. Did not your Lord tell you, the world shall be laid waste? Did not your Lord tell you, the world shall fail? Why when the promise was made, did you believe, and art disturbed now, when it is being completed? So then the tempest beats furiously against your heart; beware of shipwreck, awake up Christ. The Apostle says, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. Christ dwells in you by faith. Present faith, is Christ present; waking faith, is Christ awake; slumbering faith, is Christ asleep. Arise and stir yourself; say, Lord, we perish. See what the Heathen say to us; and what is worse, what evil Christians say! Awake up, O Lord, we perish. Let your faith awake, and Christ begins to speak to you. 'Why are you troubled?' I told you beforehand of all these things. I foretold them, that when evils came, you might hope for good things, that you might not faint in the evil. Do you wonder that the world is failing? Wonder that the world is grown old. It is as a man who is born, and grows up, and waxes old. There are many complaints in old age; the cough, the rheum, the weakness of the eyes, fretfulness, and weariness. So then as when a man is old; he is full of complaints; so is the world old; and is full of troubles. Is it a little thing that God has done for you, in that in the world's old age, He has sent Christ unto you, that He may renew you then, when all is failing? Do you not know that He notified this in the seed of Abraham? The seed of Abraham, says the Apostle, which is Christ. He says not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of One, And to your seed, which is Christ. Therefore was there a son born to Abraham in his old age, because in the old age of this world was Christ to come. He came when all things were growing old, and made them new. As a made, created, perishing thing, the world was now declining to its fall. It could not but be that it should abound in troubles; He came both to console you in the midst of present troubles, and to promise you everlasting rest. Choose not then to cleave to this aged world, and to be unwilling to grow young in Christ, who tells you, The world is perishing, the world is waxing old, the world is failing; is distressed by the heavy breathing of old age. But do not fear, Your youth shall be renewed as the eagle's.

9. See, they say, in Christian times it is that Rome perishes. Perhaps Rome is not perishing; perhaps she is only scourged, not utterly destroyed; perhaps she is chastened, not brought to nought. It may be so; Rome will not perish, if the Romans do not perish. And perish they will not if they praise God; perish they will if they blaspheme Him. For what is Rome, but the Romans? For the question is not of her wood and stones, of her lofty insulated palaces, and all her spacious walls. All this was made only on this condition that it should fall some other day. When man built it, he laid stone on stone; and when man destroyed it, he removed stone from stone. Man made it, man destroyed it. Is any injury done to Rome, because it is said, She is falling? No, not to Rome, but to her builder perhaps. Do we then its builder any injury, because we say, Rome is falling, which Romulus built? This world itself will be burnt with fire, which God built. But neither does what man has made fall to ruin, except when God wills it; nor what God has made, except when He wills. For if the work of man fall not without God's will, how can God's work fall by the will of man? Yet God both made the world that was one day to fall for you; and therefore made He you as one who was one day to die. Man himself, the city's ornament, man himself, the city's inhabitant, ruler, governor, comes on this condition that he may go, is born on this condition that he may die, entered into the world on this condition that he may pass away; Heaven and earth shall pass away: what wonder then if some time or other there should be an end of a single city? And yet perhaps the city's end is not come now; yet some time or other come it will. But why does Rome perish amid the sacrifices of Christians? Why was her mother Troy burnt amid the sacrifices of Heathens? The gods in whom the Romans have placed all their hope, yea the Roman gods in whom the Heathen Romans placed their hope, removed from the flames of Troy to found Rome. These very gods of Rome were originally the gods of Troy. Troy was burnt, and Æneas took the fugitive gods; yea rather himself a fugitive he took away these senseless gods. For they could be carried by the fugitive; but they could not flee away themselves. And coming with these gods into Italy, with these false gods, he founded Rome. It is too long to go through the whole story; yet would I briefly mention what their own writings contain. An author of theirs well known to all speaks thus; As I have received the account, the Trojans who under the guidance of Æneas were wandering about as fugitives without any settled abode, originally built and inhabited Rome. So they had their gods with them, they built Rome in Latium, and there they placed the gods to be worshipped, which before were worshipped in Troy. Juno is introduced by their poet, incensed against Æneas and the fugitive Trojans, saying,

A race of wandering slaves abhorred by me,
With prosperous passage cuts the Tuscan sea,
To fruitful Italy their course they steer,
And for their vanquished gods, design new temples
there.

Now when these vanquished gods were carried into Italy, was it as a protecting deity, or as a presage of their future fall? Love therefore the law of God, and nothing shall be an offense to you. We pray you, we beseech you, we exhort you; be meek, sympathize with the suffering, bear the weak; and on this occasion of the concourse of so many strangers, and needy, and suffering people, let your hospitality and your good works abound. Let but Christians do what Christ enjoins, and so will the Heathen blaspheme only to their own hurt.

Sermon 32 on the New Testament

[LXXXII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 18:15 , If your brother sin against you, go, show him his fault between you and him alone; and of the words of Solomon, he that winks with the eyes deceitfully, heaps sorrow upon men; but he that reproves openly, makes peace.

1. Our Lord warns us not to neglect one another's sins, not by searching out what to find fault with, but by looking out for what to amend. For He said that his eye is sharp to cast out a mote out of his brother's eye, who has not a beam in his own eye. Now what this means, I will briefly convey to you, Beloved. A mote in the eye is anger; a beam in the eye is hatred. When therefore one who has hatred finds fault with one who is angry, he wishes to take a mote out of his brother's eye, but is hindered by the beam which he carries in his own eye. A mote is the beginning of a beam. For a beam in the course of its growth, is first a mote. By watering the mote, you bring it to a beam; by nourishing anger with evil suspicions, you bring it on to hatred.

2. Now there is a great difference between the sin of one who is angry, and the cruelty of one who holds another in hatred. For even with our children are we angry; but who is ever found to hate his children? Among the very cattle too, the cow in a sort of weariness will sometimes in anger drive away her sucking calf; but anon she embraces it with all the affection of a mother. She is in a way disgusted with it, when she butts at it; yet when she misses it, she will seek after it. Nor do we discipline our children otherwise, than with a degree of anger and indignation; yet we should not discipline them at all, but in love to them. So far then is every one who is angry from hating; that sometimes one would be rather convicted of hating, if he were not angry. For suppose a child wishes to play in some river's stream, by whose force he would be like to perish; if you see this, and patiently suffer it, this would be hating; your patient suffering him, is his death. How far better is it to be angry and correct him, than by not being angry to allow him to perish! Above all things then is hatred to be avoided, and the beam to be cast out of the eye. Great is the difference indeed between one's exceeding due limits in some words through anger, which he afterwards wipes off by repenting of it; and the keeping an insidious purpose shut up in the heart. Great, lastly, the difference between these words of Scripture; My eye is disordered because of anger. Whereas of the other it is said, Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer. Great is the difference between an eye disordered, and clean put out. A mote disorders, a beam puts clean out.

3. In order then that we may be able well to do and to fulfil what we have been admonished of today, let us first persuade ourselves to this, above all things to have no hate. For when there is no beam in your own eye, you see rightly whatever may be in your brother's eye; and art uneasy, till you cast out of your brother's eye what you see to hurt it. The light that is in you, does not allow you to neglect your brother's light. Whereas if you hate, and would correct him, how do you improve his light, when you have lost your own light? For the same Scripture, where it is written, Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer, has expressly told us this also. He that hates his brother is in darkness even until now. Hatred then is darkness. Now it cannot but be, that he who hates another, should first injure himself. For him he endeavours to hurt outwardly, he lays himself waste inwardly. Now in proportion as our soul is of more value than our body, so much the more ought we to provide for it, that it be not hurt. But he that hates another, does hurt his own soul. And what would he do to him whom he hates? What would he do? He takes away his money, can he take his faith away? He wounds his good fame, can he wound his conscience? Whatever injury he does, is but external; now observe what his injury to himself is? For he who hates another is an enemy to himself within. But because he is not sensible of what harm he is doing to himself, he is violent against another, and that the more dangerously, that he is not sensible of the evil he is doing to himself; because by this very violence he has lost the power of perception. You are violent against your enemy; by this violence of yours he is spoiled, and you are wicked. Great is the difference between the two. He has lost his money, you have lost your innocence. Ask which has suffered the heavier loss? He has lost a thing that was sure to perish, and you have become one who must now perish yourself.

4. Therefore ought we to rebuke in love; not with any eager desire to injure, but with an earnest care to amend. If we be so minded, most excellently do we practise that which we have been recommended today; If your brother shall sin against you, rebuke him between you and him alone. Why do you rebuke him? Because you are grieved, that he should have sinned against you? God forbid. If from love of yourself you do it, you do nothing. If from love to him you do it, you do excellently. In fact, observe in these words themselves, for the love of whom you ought to do it, whether of yourself or him. If he shall hear you, you have gained your brother. Do it for his sake then, that you may gain him. If by so doing you gain him, had you not done it, he would have been lost. How is it then that most men disregard these sins, and say, What great thing have I done? I have only sinned against man. Disregard them not. You have sinned against man; but would you know that in sinning against man you are lost. If he, against whom you have sinned, have rebuked you between you and him alone, and you have listened to him, he has gained you. What can has gained you, mean; but that you had been lost, if he had not gained you. For if you would not have been lost, how has he gained you? Let no man then disregard it, when he sins against a brother. For the Apostle says in a certain place, But when you sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ; for this reason, because we have been all made members of Christ. How do you not sin against Christ, who sinnest against a member of Christ?

5. Let no one therefore say, I have not sinned against God, but against a brother. I have sinned against a man, it is a trifling sin, or no sin at all. It may be, you say it is a trifling sin, because it is soon cured. You have sinned against a brother; give him satisfaction, and you are made whole. Thou did a deadly thing quickly, but quickly too have you found a remedy. Who of us, my Brethren, can hope for the kingdom of heaven, when the Gospel says, Whosoever shall say to his brother, You fool, shall be in danger of hell fire? Exceeding terror! But behold in the same place the remedy: If you bring your gift to the altar, and there rememberest that your brother has anything against you, leave there your gift before the altar. God is not angry that you defer to lay your gift upon the Altar. It is you that God seeks more than your gift. For if you come with a gift to your God, bearing an evil mind against your brother, He will answer you, You are lost, what have you brought Me? You bring your gift, and you are yourself no proper gift for God. Christ seeks him whom He has redeemed with His Blood, more than what you have found in your barn. So then, Leave there your gift before the altar, and go your way, first be reconciled to your brother, and so you shall come and offer your gift. Lo that danger of hell fire, how quickly dissolved it is! When you were not yet reconciled, you wast in danger of hell fire; once reconciled, you offer your gift before the altar in all security.

6. But men are easy and ready enough to inflict injuries, and hard to seek for reconciliation. Ask pardon, says one, of him whom you have offended, of him whom you have injured. He answers, I will not so humble myself. But now if you despise your brother, at least give ear to your God. He that humbles himself shall be exalted. Will you refuse to humble yourself, who hast already fallen? Great is the difference between one who humbles himself, and one who lies on the ground. Already do you lie on the ground, and will you then not humble yourself? You might well say, I will not descend; if you had first been unwilling to fall.

7. This then ought one to do who has done an injury. And he who has suffered one, what ought he to do? What we have heard today, If your brother shall sin against you, rebuke him between you and him alone. If you shall neglect this, you are worse than he. He has done an injury, and by doing an injury, has stricken himself with a grievous wound; will you disregard your brother's wound? Will you see him perishing, or already lost, and disregard his case? You are worse in keeping silence, than he in his reviling. Therefore when any one sins against us, let us take great care, not for ourselves, for it is a glorious thing to forget injuries; only forget your own injury, not your brother's wound. Therefore rebuke him between you and him alone, intent upon his amendment, but sparing his shame. For it may be that through shame-facedness he will begin to defend his sin, and so you will make him whom you desire to amend, still worse. Rebuke him therefore between him and you alone. If he shall hear you, you have gained your brother; because he would have been lost, had you not done it. But if he will not hear you, that is, if he will defend his sin as if it were a just action, take with you one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established; and if he will not hear them, refer it to the Church; but if he will not hear the Church, let him be unto you as an heathen man and a publican. Reckon him no more among the number of your brethren. But yet neither is his salvation on that account to be neglected. For the very heathen, that is, the Gentiles and Pagans, we do not reckon among the number of brethren; but yet are we ever seeking their salvation. This then have we heard the Lord so advising, and with such great carefulness enjoining, that He even added this immediately, Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven. You have begun to hold your brother for a publican; you bind him on earth; but see that you bind him justly. For unjust bonds justice does burst asunder. But when you have corrected, and been reconciled to your brother, you have loosed him on earth. And when you shall have loosed him on earth, he shall be loosed in heaven also. Thus you do a great thing, not for yourself, but for him; for a great injury had he done, not to you, but to himself.

8. But since this is so, what is that which Solomon says, and which we heard first today out of another lesson, He that winks with the eyes deceitfully, heaps sorrow upon men; but he that reproves openly, makes peace? If then he that reproves openly, makes peace; how rebuke him between him and you alone? We must fear, lest the divine precepts should be contrary to one another. But no: let us understand that there is the most perfect agreement in them, let us not follow the conceits of certain vain ones, who in their error think that the two Testaments in the Old and New Books are contrary to each other; that so we should think that there is any contradiction here, because one is in the book of Solomon, and the other in the Gospel. For if any one unskilful in, and a reviler of the divine Scriptures, were to say, See where the two Testaments contradict each other. The Lord says, 'Rebuke him between him and you alone.' Solomon says, 'He that reproves openly makes peace.' Does not the Lord then know what He has commanded? Solomon would have the sinners' hard forehead bruised: Christ spares his shame who blushes for his sins. For in the one place it is written, He that reproves openly makes peace; but in the other, Rebuke him between him and you alone; not openly, but apart and secretly. But would you know, whosoever you are that thinkest such things, that the two Testaments are not opposed to each other, because the first of these passages is found in the book of Solomon, and the other in the Gospel? Hear the Apostle. And surely the Apostle is a Minister of the New Testament. Hear the Apostle Paul then, charging Timothy, and saying, Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear. So then not the book of Solomon, but an Epistle of Paul the Apostle seems to be at issue with the Gospel. Let us then without any prejudice to his honour lay aside Solomon for a while; let us hear the Lord Christ and His servant Paul. What sayest Thou, O Lord? If your brother sin against you, rebuke him between him and you alone. What do you say, O Apostle? Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear. What are we about? Are we listening to this controversy as judges? That be far from us. Yea, rather as those whose place is under the Judge, let us knock, that we may obtain, that it be opened to us; let us fly beneath the wings of our Lord God. For He did not speak in contradiction to His Apostle, seeing that He Himself spoke in him also, as he says, Would ye receive a proof of Christ, who speaks in me? Christ in the Gospel, Christ in the Apostle: Christ therefore spoke both; one by His own Mouth, the other by the mouth of His herald. For when the herald pronounces anything from the tribunal, it is not written in the records, the herald said it; but he is written as having said it, who commanded the herald what to say.

9. Let us then so give ear to these two precepts, Brethren, as that we may understand them, and let us settle ourselves in peace between them both. Let us but be in agreement with our own heart, and Holy Scripture will in no part disagree with itself. It is entirely true, both precepts are true; but we must make a distinction, that sometimes the one, sometimes the other must be done; that sometimes a brother must be reproved between him and you alone, sometimes a brother must be reproved before all, that others also may fear. If we do sometimes the one, and sometimes the other, we shall hold fast the harmony of the Scriptures, and shall not err in fulfilling and obeying them. But a man will say to me, When am I to do this one, and when the other? Lest I 'reprove between me and him alone,' when I ought to 'reprove before all;' or 'reprove before all,' when I ought to reprove in secret.

10. You will soon see, Beloved, what we ought to do, and when; only I would we may not be slow to practise it. Attend and see: If your brother sin against you, rebuke him between him and you alone. Why? Because it is against you that he has sinned. What is that, has sinned against you? You know that he has sinned. For because it was secret when he sinned against you, seek for secresy, when you correct his sin. For if you only know that he has sinned against you, and you would rebuke him before all, you are not a reprover, but a betrayer. Consider how that just man Joseph spared his wife with such exceeding kindness, in so great a crime as he had suspected her of, before he knew by whom she had conceived; because he perceived that she was with child, and he knew that he had not come in unto her. There remained then an unavoidable suspicion of adultery, and yet because he only had perceived, he only knew it, what does the Gospel say of him? Then Joseph being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example. The husband's grief sought no revenge; he wished to profit, not to punish the sinner. And not willing to make her a public example, he was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him, in sleep; and told him how it was, that she had not defiled her husband's bed, but that she had conceived of the Holy Ghost the Lord of them both. Your brother then has sinned against you; if you alone know it, then has he really sinned against you alone. For if in the hearing of many he has done you an injury, he has sinned against them also whom he has made witnesses of his iniquity. For I tell you, my dearly beloved Brethren, what you can yourselves recognise in your own case. When any one does my brother an injury in my hearing, God forbid that I should think that injury unconnected with myself. Certainly he has done it to me also; yea to me the rather, to whom he thought what he did was pleasing. Therefore those sins are to be reproved before all, which are committed before all; they are to be reproved with more secresy, which are committed more secretly. Distinguish times, and Scripture is in harmony with itself.

11. So let us act; and so must we act not only when the sin is committed against ourselves, but when the sin is so committed by any one as that it is unknown by the other. In secret ought we to rebuke, in secret to reprove him; lest if we would reprove him publicly, we should betray the man. We wish to rebuke and reform him; but what if his enemy is looking out to hear something that he may punish? For example, a Bishop knows of some one who has killed another, and no one else knows of him. I wish to reprove him publicly; but you are seeking to prosecute him. Decidedly then I will neither betray him, nor neglect him; I will reprove him in secret; I will set the judgment of God before his eyes; I will alarm his bloodstained conscience; I will persuade him to repentance. With this charity ought we to be endued. And hence men sometimes find fault with us, as if we do not reprove; or they think that we know what we do not know, or that we hush up what we know. And it may be that what you know, I know also but I will not reprove in your presence I because I wish to cure, not to act informer. There are men who commit adultery in their own houses, they sin in secret, sometimes they are discovered to us by their own wives, generally through jealousy, sometimes as seeking their husband's salvation; in such cases we do not betray them openly, but reprove them in secret. Where the evil has happened, there let the evil die. Yet do we not neglect that wound; above all things showing the man who is in such a sinful state, and bears such a wounded conscience, that that is a deadly wound which they who suffer from, sometimes by an unaccountable perverseness despise; and seek out testimonies in their favour, I know not whence, null certainly and void, saying, God cares not for sins of the flesh. Where is that then which we have heard today, Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge? Lo! Whosoever you are that labourest under such a disease attend. Hear what God says; not what your own mind, in indulgence to your own sins, may say, or what your friend, your enemy rather and his own too, bound in the same bond of iniquity with you may say. Hear then what the Apostle says; Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled. But whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

12. Come then, Brother, be reformed. You are afraid lest your enemy should prosecute you; and are you not afraid lest God should judge you? Where is your faith? Fear while there is the time for fear. Far off indeed is the day of judgment; but every man's last day cannot be far off; for life is short. And since this shortness is ever uncertain, you know not when your last day may be. Reform yourself today, because of tomorrow. Let the reproof in secret be of service to you now. For I am speaking openly, yet do I reprove in secret. I knock at the ears of all; but I accost the consciences of some. If I were to say, Thou adulterer, reform yourself; perhaps in the first place I might say what I had no knowledge of; perhaps suspect on a rash hearsay report. I do not then say, Thou adulterer, reform yourself; but whosoever you are among this people who art an adulterer, reform yourself. So the reproof is public; the reformation secret. This I know, that whoever fears, will reform himself.

13. Let no one say in his heart, God cares not for sins of the flesh. Do you not know, says the Apostle, that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him will God destroy. Let no man deceive himself. But perhaps a man will say, My soul is the temple of God, not my body, and will add this testimony also, All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. Unhappy interpretation! conceit meet for punishment! The flesh is called grass, because it dies; but take heed that that which dies for a time, rise not again with guilt. Would you ascertain a plain judgment on this point also? Do you not know, says the same Apostle, that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God? Do not then any longer disregard sins of the body; seeing that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God. If you disregarded a sin of the body, will you disregard a sin which you commit against a temple? Your very body is a temple of the Spirit of God within you. Now take heed what you do with the temple of God. If you were to choose to commit adultery in the Church within these walls, what wickedness could be greater? But now you are yourself the temple of God. In your going out, in your coming in, as you abide in your house, as you rise up, in all you are a temple. Take heed then what you do, take heed that you offend not the Indweller of the temple, lest He forsake you, and you fall into ruins. Do you not know, he says, that your bodies (and this the Apostle spoke touching fornication, that they might not think lightly of sins of the body) are the temples of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own? For you have been bought with a great price. If you think so lightly of your own body, have some consideration for your price.

14. I know, and as I do every one knows, who has used a little more than ordinary consideration, that no man who has any fear of God omits to reform himself in obedience to His words, but he who thinks that he has longer time to live. This it is which kills so many, while they are saying, Tomorrow, Tomorrow; and suddenly the door is shut. He remains outside with the raven's croak, because he had not the moaning of the dove. Tomorrow, Tomorrow; is the raven's croak. Moan plaintively as the dove, and beat your breast; but while you are inflicting blows on your breast, be the better for the beating; lest you seem not to beat your conscience, but rather with blows to harden it, and make an evil conscience more unyielding instead of better. Moan with no fruitless moaning. For it may be you are saying to yourself, God has promised me forgiveness, whenever I reform myself I am secure; I read the divine Scripture, In the day that the wicked man turns away from his wickedness, and does that which is lawful and right, I will forget all his iniquities. I am secure then, whenever I reform myself, God will give me pardon for my evil deeds. What can I say to this? Shall I lift up my voice against God? Shall I say to God, Do not give him pardon? Shall I say, This is not written, God has not promised this? If I should say ought of this, I should say falsely. You speak well and truly; God has promised pardon on your amendment, I cannot deny it; but tell me, I pray you; see, I consent, I grant, I acknowledge that God has promised you pardon, but who has promised you a tomorrow? Where you read to me that you shall receive pardon, if you reform yourself; there read to me how long you have to live. Thou dost confess, I cannot read it there. You know not then how long you have to live. Reform yourself, and so be always ready. Be not afraid of the last day, as a thief, who will break up your house as you sleep, but awake and reform yourself today. Why do you put it off till tomorrow? If your life is to be a long one, let it be both long and good. No one puts off a good dinner, because it is to be a long one, and do you wish to have a long evil life? Surely if it is to be long, it will be all the better if it be good; if it is to be short, it is well that its good be as long as possible. But men neglect their life to such a degree, as that they are unwilling to have anything bad except it. You buy a farm, and you look out for a good one; you wish to marry a wife, you choose a good one; you wish for the birth of children, and you long for good ones; you bargain for shoes, and you do not wish for bad ones; and yet a bad life you do love. How has your life offended you, that you are willing to have it only bad; that amid all your good things you should yourself alone be evil?

15. So then, my Brethren, if I should wish to reprove any of you individually in secret, perhaps he would listen to me. I reprove many of you now in public; all praise me; may some give attentive heed to me! I have no love for him who praises me with his voice, and with his heart despises me. For when you praise, and not reform yourself, you are a witness against yourself. If you are evil, and you are pleased with what I say, be displeased with yourself; because if you are displeased with yourself as being evil, when you reform, you will be well pleased with yourself, which if I mistake not I said the day before yesterday. In all my words I set a mirror before you. Nor are they my words, but I speak at the bidding of the Lord, by whose terrors I refrain from keeping silence. For who would not rather choose to keep silence, and not to give account for you? But now I have undertaken the burden, and I cannot, and I ought not to shake it off my shoulders. When the Epistle to the Hebrews was being read, my Brethren, you heard, Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves; for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief; for that is unprofitable for you. When do we it with joy? When we see man making progress in the words of God. When does the labourer in the field work with joy? When he looks at the tree, and sees the fruit; when he looks at the crop, and sees the prospect of abundance of grain in the floor; when he sees that he has not laboured in vain, has not bowed his back, and bruised his hands, and endured the cold and heat in vain. This is what he says, That they may do it with joy, and not with grief; for that is unprofitable for you. Did he say, unprofitable for them? No. He said, unprofitable for you. For when those who are set over you are saddened at your evil deeds, it is profitable for them; their very sadness is profitable for them; but it is unprofitable for you. But we do not wish that anything should be profitable for us, which for you is unprofitable. Let us then, Brethren, do good together in the Lord's field; that at the reward we may rejoice together.

Sermon 33 on the New Testament

[LXXXIII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 17:21 , How oft shall my brother sin against me, etc.

1. Yesterday the holy Gospel warned us not to neglect the sins of our brethren: But if your brother shall sin against you, rebuke him between him and you alone. If he shall hear you, you have gained your brother. But if he shall refuse to hear you, take with you two or three more; that in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them too, tell it to the Church. But if he shall neglect to hear the Church, let him be unto you as an heathen man and a publican. Today also the section which follows, and which we heard when it was read, relates to the same subject. For when the Lord Jesus had said this to Peter, he went on to ask his Master, how often he should forgive a brother who had sinned against him; and he enquired whether seven times would be enough. The Lord answered him, Not only seven times, but seventy times seven. Then he added a parable very full of terror: That the kingdom of heaven is like an householder, which took account with his servants; among whom he found one that owed ten thousand talents. And when he commanded all that he had, and all his family, and himself to be sold, and the debt to be paid, he fell down at his lord's feet, and prayed for delay, and obtained entire remission. For as we have heard, His lord was moved with compassion, and forgave him all the debt. Then that man free from his debt, but a bondslave of iniquity, after he had gone out from the presence of his lord, found in his turn a debtor of his own, who owed him, not ten thousand talents, the sum which had been remitted to him, but a hundred denarii; and he began to drag him by the throat, and say, Pay me that you owe. Then he besought his fellow-servant as he had done his lord; but he did not find his fellow-servant such a man as the other had found his lord. He not only would not forgive him the debt; but he did not even grant him a delay. He hurried him along with great violence to make him pay, he who had been but just now set free from his debt to his lord. His fellow-servants were displeased; and went and told their lord what was done; and the lord summoned his servant to his presence, and said to him, O you wicked servant, when you owed me so great a debt, in pity to you I forgave you all. Should not you also have had compassion on your fellow-servant, even as I had pity on you? And he commanded that all which he had forgiven him should be paid.

2. It is then for our instruction that He put forth this parable, and by this warning He would save us from perishing. So, said He, shall My heavenly Father do also unto you, if you from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses. Lo, Brethren, the thing is plain, useful is the admonition, and a wholesome obedience is by all means due, that what has been bidden may be fulfilled. For every man is at once God's debtor, and has also some brother a debtor to himself. For who is there who is not God's debtor, but he in whom there can be found no sin? And who is there who has not a brother his debtor, but he against whom no one has sinned? Think you that any one among mankind can be found, who is not himself bounden to his brother by some sin? So then every man is a debtor, yet having himself his own debtors too. The righteous God therefore appoints a rule for you toward your debtor, which He also will observe with His. For two works of mercy are there, which deliver us, which the Lord has Himself briefly laid down in the Gospel: Forgive, and you shall be forgiven: give, and it shall be given unto you. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven, relates to pardoning. Give, and it shall be given unto you, relates to doing kindnesses. As to what He says of pardoning, you both wish your sin to be pardoned you, and you have another whom you may pardon. Again, as to the doing kindnesses; a beggar asks of you, and you are God's beggar. For we are all when we pray God's beggars; we stand, yea rather we fall prostrate before the door of the Great Householder, we groan in supplication wishing to receive something; and this something is God Himself. What does the beggar ask of you? Bread. And what do you ask of God, but Christ, who says, I am the living Bread which came down from heaven? Would you be forgiven? Forgive. Forgive, and it shall be forgiven you. Would you receive? Give, and it shall be given unto you.

3. But now hear what in so plain a precept I may cause a difficulty. In this question of forgiveness when pardon is asked, and it is due from him who should grant it, it may be a difficulty to us as it was to Peter. How often ought I to forgive? Is up to seven times sufficient? It is not sufficient, says the Lord, I say not unto you, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven. Now reckon up how often your brother has sinned against you. If you can reach the seventy-eighth fault, so as to get beyond the seventy times seven, then set about revenge. Is this then what He really means, and is it really so, that if he shall sin seventy times seven, you should forgive him; but if he shall sin seventy times and eight, it should then be lawful for you not to forgive? Nay I am bold to say, that if he should even sin seventy-eight times, you must forgive. Yea, as I have said, if he shall sin seventy-eight times, forgive. And if he sin a hundred times, forgive. And why need I say, so and so often? In one word, as often as he shall sin, forgive him. Have I then taken upon me to overpass the measure of my Lord? He fixed the limit of forgiveness in the number seventy-seven; shall I presume to overleap this limit? It is not so, I have not presumed to go at all beyond. I have heard the Lord Himself speaking in His Apostle where there is no measure or number fixed. For He says, Forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Here you have the rule. If Christ have forgiven you your sins seventy times and seven only, if He have pardoned up to this point, and refused to pardon beyond it; then do you also fix this limit, and be loth to forgive beyond it. But if Christ has found thousands of sins upon sins, and has yet forgiven all; withdraw not then your mercy, but ask the forgiveness of that large number. For it was not without a meaning that the Lord said seventy times seven; forasmuch as there is no trespass whatever which you ought not to forgive. See this servant in the parable, who being a debtor was found to have a debtor, owed ten thousand talents. And I suppose that ten thousand talents are at least ten thousand sins. For I will not say how but one talent will include all sins. But how much did the other servant owe him? He owed a hundred denarii. Now is not this more than seventy and seven? And yet the Lord was angry, because he did not forgive him. For not only is a hundred more than seventy-seven; but a hundred denarii, perhaps are a thousand asses. But what was this to ten thousand talents?

4. And so let us be ready to forgive all the trespasses which are committed against us, if we desire to be forgiven. For if we consider our sins, and reckon up what we do in deed, what by the eye, what by the ear, what by thought, what by numberless movements; I know not whether we so much as sleep without a talent. And therefore do we daily beg, daily knock at the ears of God by prayer, daily prostrate ourselves and say, Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. What debts of yours? All, or a certain part? You will answer, All. So then do you with your debtor. This then is the rule you lay down, this the condition you speak of; this the covenant and agreement you mention when you pray, saying, Forgive us, as we forgive our debtors.

5. What then, Brethren, is the meaning of seventy times seven? Hear, for it is a great mystery, a wonderful sacrament. When the Lord was baptized, the Evangelist St. Luke has in that place commemorated His generations in the regular order, series, and line in which they had come down to that generation in which Christ was born. Matthew begins at Abraham, and comes down to Joseph in a descending order; but Luke begins to reckon in an ascending order. Why does the one reckon in a descending, and the other in an ascending order? Because Matthew set forth the generation of Christ by which He came down to us; and so he began to reckon when Christ was born in a descending order. Whereas, because Luke begins to reckon when Christ was baptized; in this is the beginning of ascension, he begins to reckon in an ascending order, and in his reckoning he has completed seventy-seven generations. With whom did he begin his reckoning? Observe with whom? He began to reckon from Christ up to Adam himself, who was the first sinner, and who begot us with the bond of sin. He reckoned up to Adam, and so there are reckoned seventy-seven generations; that is, from Christ up to Adam and from Adam up to Christ are the aforesaid seventy-seven generations. So then if no generation was omitted, there is no exemption of any trespass which ought not to be forgiven. For therefore did he reckon up his seventy-seven generations, which number the Lord mentioned as to the forgiveness of sins; since he begins to reckon from the baptism, wherein all sins are remitted.

6. And, Brethren, observe in this a yet greater mystery. In the number seventy-seven is a mystery of the remission of sins. So many are the generations found to be from Christ to Adam. Now then, ask with somewhat more careful diligence for the secret meaning of this number, and enquire into its hidden meaning; with more careful diligence knock, that it may be opened unto you. Righteousness consists in the observance of the Law of God: true. For the Law is set forth in ten precepts. Therefore it was that the servant in the parable owed ten thousand talents. This is that memorable Decalogue written by the finger of God, and delivered to the people by Moses, the servant of God. He owed then ten thousand talents; which signifies all sins, with reference to the number of the Law. And the other owed a hundred denarii; derived equally from the same number. For a hundred times a hundred make ten thousand; and ten times ten make a hundred. And the one owed ten thousand talents, and the other ten times ten denarii. For there was no departure from the number of the law, and in both numbers you will find every kind of sin included. Both are debtors, and both implore and beg for pardon; but the wicked, ungrateful servant would not repay what he had received, would not grant the mercy which had been undeservedly accorded to him.

7. Consider then, Brethren; every man begins from Baptism; he goes out free, the ten thousand talents are forgiven him; and when he goes out, he will soon find some fellow-servant his debtor. Let him note then, what sin itself is; for the number eleven is the transgression of the law. For the law is ten, sin eleven. For the law is denoted by ten, sin by eleven. Why is sin denoted by eleven? Because to get to eleven, there is the transgression of the ten. But the due limit is fixed in the law; and the transgression of it is sin. Now when you have passed beyond the ten, you come to eleven. This high mystery was figured out when the tabernacle was commanded to be built. There are many things mentioned there in number, which are a great mystery. Among the rest, curtains of haircloth were ordered to be made not ten, but eleven; because by haircloth is signified the confession of sins. Now what do you require more? Would you know how that all sins are contained in this number seventy-seven? Seven then is usually put for a whole; because in seven days the revolution of time is completed, and when the seventh is ended, it returns to the first again, that the same revolution may be continued. In such revolutions whole ages pass away: yet there is no departure from the number seven. For He spoke of all sins, when He said seventy times seven; for multiply that eleven seven times, and it makes seventy-seven. Therefore would He have all sins forgiven, for He marked them out by the number seventy-seven. Let no one then retain against himself by refusing to forgive, lest it be retained against him, when he prays. For God says, Forgive, and you shall be forgiven. For I have forgiven you first; you at least forgive after that. For if you will not forgive, I will call you back, and put upon you again all that I had remitted to you. For the Truth does not speak falsely; Christ neither deceives, nor is deceived, and He has said at the close of the parable, So likewise shall your Father which is in heaven do unto you. Thou findest a Father, imitate your Father. For if you will not imitate Him, you are devising to be disinherited. So likewise then shall My heavenly Father do also unto you, if you from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses. Say not with the tongue, I forgive, and put off to forgive in the heart; for by His threat of vengeance God shows you your punishment. God knows where you speak. Man can hear your voice; God looks into your conscience. If you say, I forgive; forgive. Better is it that you should be violent in words, and forgive in the heart, than in words be soft, and in the heart relentless.

8. Now then unruly boys will beg, and take it hard to be beat taking exception against us when we wish to chastise them after this fashion. I have sinned, but forgive me. Well, I have forgiven, and he sins again. Forgive me, he cries, and I have forgiven him. He sins a third time. Forgive me, he cries, and a third time I have forgiven him. Now then the fourth time let him be beat. And he will say, What! Have I tired you out to seventy-seven times? Now if by such exceptions the severity of discipline sleep, upon the suppression of discipline wickedness will rage with impunity. What then is to be done? Let us reprove with words, and if need be with scourges; but let us withal forgive the sin, and cast away the remembrance of it from the heart. For therefore did the Lord add, from your hearts, that though through affection discipline be exercised, gentleness might not depart out of the heart. For what is so kind and gentle as the surgeon with his knife? He that is to be cut cries, yet cut he is; he that is to be cauterized cries, but cauterized he is. This is not cruelty; on no account let that surgeon's treatment be called cruelty. Cruel he is against the wounded part that the patient may be cured; for if the wound be softly dealt with, the man is lost. Thus then would I advise, my Brethren, that we love our brethren, howsoever they may have sinned against us; that we let not affection toward them depart out of our hearts, and that when need is, we exercise discipline toward them; lest by the relaxation of discipline, wickedness increase, and we begin to be accused on God's behalf, for it has been read to us, Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear. Certainly, if one, as is the only true way, distinguishes the times, and so solves the question, all is true. If the sin be in secret, rebuke it in secret. If the sin be public and open, rebuke it publicly that the sinner may be reformed; and that others also may fear.

Sermon 34 on the New Testament

[LXXXIV. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 19:17 , If you would enter into life, keep the commandments.

1. The Lord said to a certain young man, If you will enter into life, keep the commandments. He did not say, If you will enter into life eternal, but If you will enter into life; laying down that as life, which is to be life eternal. Let us first then set forth the value of the love of this life. For even this present life, under whatever circumstances, is loved; and men fear and dread to end it of whatever kind it be; however full of trouble and misery. Hence may we see, hence consider, how the life eternal should be loved; when this life so miserable, and which must sometime come to an end, is loved so much. Consider, Brethren, how greatly should that life be loved, where you will never end life. Thou dost love, it seems, this present life, where you labour so much, hastest to and fro, art busy, sufferest fatigue; yea scarcely to be enumerated are the necessities of this miserable life; sowing, ploughing, clearing the ground, sailing, grinding, cooking, weaving; and after all these things you have to end your life. See the evils you suffer in this miserable life, which you love; and do you think that you shall always live, and never die? Temples, stones, marbles, joined so strongly together with iron and lead, fall into ruin for all their strength; and does a man suppose that he shall never die? Learn then, Brethren, to seek for eternal life, where you will not endure all this, but will reign with God forever. For he who wishes life, as the Prophet says, loves to see good days. For in evil days death is rather wished for than life. Do we not hear and see men when they are involved in some tribulations and distresses, in law-suits or sicknesses and they see that they are in travail, do we not hear them saying nothing else but, O God, send me death, hasten my days? Yet when sickness comes, they run about, and physicians are fetched, and money and rewards are promised. Death himself says to you, Lo, here I am, whom but a little while ago you were asking of the Lord, why would you fly from me now? I have found you to be a self-deceiver, and a lover of this miserable life.

2. But as concerning these days which we are passing now, the Apostle says, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Are not these days indeed evil which we spend in this corruptible flesh, in or under so heavy a load of the corruptible body, amid so great temptations, amid so great difficulties, where there is but false pleasure, no security of joy, a tormenting fear, a greedy covetousness, a withering sadness? Lo, what evil days! Yet no one is willing to end these same evil days, and hence men earnestly pray God that they may live long. Yet what is it to live long, but to be long tormented? What is it to live long, but to add evil days to evil days? When boys are growing up, it is as if days are being added to them; whereas they do not know that they are being diminished; and their very reckoning is false. For as we grow in up, the number of our days rather diminishes than increases. Appoint for any man at his birth, for instance, eighty years; every day he lives, he diminishes somewhat of that sum. Yet silly men rejoice at the oft-recurring birthdays, both of themselves and their children. O sensible man! If the wine in your bottle is diminished, you are sad; days are you losing, and are you glad? These days then are evil; and so much the more evil, in that they are loved. This world is so alluring, that no one is willing to finish a life of sorrow. For the true, the blessed life is this, when we shall rise again, and reign with Christ. For the ungodly too shall rise again but to go into the fire. Life then is there again, but that which is blessed. And blessed life there can be none but that which is eternal, where are good days; and those not many days, but one day. They are called days after the custom of this life. That day knows no rising, it knows no setting. To that day there succeeds no tomorrow; because no yesterday precedes it. This day, or these days, and this life, this true life, have we in promise. It is then the reward of a certain work. So if we love the reward, let us not fail in the work; and so shall we reign with Christ forever.

Sermon 35 on the New Testament

[LXXXV. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 19:17 , If you would enter into life, keep the commandments.

1. The Gospel lesson which has now sounded in our ears, Brethren, requires rather an attentive hearer and a doer, than an expositor. What is more clear than this light, If you will enter into life, keep the commandments? What then have I to say but, If you will enter into life, keep the commandments? Who is there that does not wish for life? And yet who is there that does wish to keep the commandments? If you do not wish to keep the commandments, why do you seek after life? If you are slow to the work, why do you hasten to the reward? The rich young man in the Gospel said that he had kept the commandments; then he heard the greater precepts, If you will be perfect, one thing is lacking to you, go sell all that you have, and give to the poor; you shall not lose them, but you shall have treasure in heaven; and come and follow Me. For what shall it profit you, if you shall do all the rest, and yet not follow Me? But as you have heard, he went away sad and sorrowful; for he had great riches. What he heard, have we heard also. The Gospel is Christ's voice. He sits in heaven; but He does not cease to speak on earth. Let us not be deaf, for He is crying out. Let us not be dead; for He is thundering. If you will not do the greater things, do at least the less. If the burden of the greater be too much for you, at least take up the less. Why are you slow to both? Why settest yourself against both? The greater are, Sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and follow Me. The less are, You shall do no murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness. Honour your father and your mother; and, You shall love your neighbour as yourself. These do; why do I call to you, to sell your possessions, from whom I cannot gain, that you would keep from plundering what is another's? You have heard, You shall not steal; yet you plunder. Before the eyes of so great a Judge, I find you not a thief only, but a plunderer. Spare yourself, have pity on yourself. This life yet allows you respite, do not refuse correction. Yesterday you were a thief; be not so today too. Or if perhaps you have been so today already, be not so tomorrow. Put a stop sometime to your evil doing, and so require good for a reward. You would have good things, and would not be good; your life is a contradiction to your desires. If to have a good country-seat, is a great good: how great an evil must it be to have an evil soul!

2. The rich man went away sorrowful; and the Lord said, How hardly shall he that has riches enter into the kingdom of heaven! And by putting forth a comparison He showed the difficulty to be such that it was absolutely impossible. For every impossible thing is difficult; but not every difficult thing is impossible. As to how difficult it is, take heed to the comparison; Verily I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. A camel to go through the eye of a needle! If He had said a gnat, it would be impossible. And then when His disciples heard it, they were grieved and said, If this be so, who then can be saved? What rich man? Give ear then to Christ, you poor, I am speaking to the people of God. You are more of you poor than rich, do ye then at least receive what I say, yet give heed. Whosoever of you boast of your poverty, beware of pride, lest the humble rich surpass you; beware of impiety, lest the pious rich surpass you; beware of drunkenness, lest the sober rich surpass you. Do not glory of your poverty, if they must not glory of their riches.

3. And let the rich give ear, if indeed they are rich; let them give ear to the Apostle, Charge the rich of this world, for there are who are the rich of another world. The poor are the rich of another world. The Apostles are the rich of another world, who said, As having nothing, and yet possessing all things. So that you may know of what poor he is speaking he added, of this world. Let the rich then of this world give ear to the Apostle, Charge, he says, the rich of this world, that they be not proud in their conceits. The first worm of riches is pride. A consuming moth, which gnaws the whole, and reduces it even to dust. Charge them, therefore, not to be proud in their conceits, nor to trust in the uncertainty of riches (they are the Apostle's words), but in the living God. A thief may take away your gold; who can take away your God? What has the rich man, if he has not God? What has the poor man not, if he have God? Therefore he says, Nor to trust in riches, but in the living God, who gives us all things richly to enjoy; with which all things He gives also Himself.

4. If then they ought not to trust in riches, not to confide in them, but in the living God; what are they to do with their riches? Hear what: Let them be rich in good works. What does this mean? Explain, O Apostle. For many are loth to understand what they are loth to practise. Explain, O Apostle; give none occasion to evil works by the obscurity of your words. Tell us what you mean by, let them be rich in good works. Let them hear and understand; let them not be suffered to excuse themselves; but rather let them begin to accuse themselves, and to say what we have just heard in the Psalm, For I acknowledge my sin. Tell us what this is, let them be rich in good works. Let them easily distribute. And what is let them easily distribute? What! Is this too not understood? Let them easily distribute, let them communicate. You have, another has not: communicate, that God may communicate to you. Communicate here, and you shall communicate there. Communicate your bread here, and you shall receive Bread there. What bread here? That which you gather with sweat and toil, according to the curse upon the first man. What Bread there? Even Him who said, I am the Living Bread which came down from heaven. Here you are rich, but you are poor there. Gold you have, but you have not yet the Presence of Christ. Lay out what you have, that you may receive what you have not. Let them be rich in good works, let them easily distribute, let them communicate.

5. Must they then lose all they have? He said, Let them communicate, not Let them give the whole. Let them keep for themselves as much as is sufficient for them, let them keep more than is sufficient. Let us give a certain portion of it. What portion? A tenth? The Scribes and Pharisees gave tithes for whom Christ had not yet shed His Blood. The Scribes and Pharisees gave tithes; lest haply you should think you are doing any great thing in breaking your bread to the poor; and this is scarcely a thousandth part of your means. And yet I am not finding fault with this; do even this. So hungry and thirsty am I, that I am glad even of these crumbs. But yet I cannot keep back what He who died for us said while He was alive. Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. He does not deal softly with us; for He is a physician, He cuts to the quick. Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. The Scribes and Pharisees gave the tenth. How is it with you? Ask yourselves. Consider what you do, and with what means you do it; how much you give, how much you leave for yourselves; what you spend on mercy, what you reserve for luxury. So then, Let them distribute easily, let them communicate, let them lay up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may hold on eternal life.

6. I have admonished the rich; now hear, you poor. You rich, lay out your money; ye poor, refrain from plundering. You rich, distribute your means; ye poor, bridle your desires. Hear, you poor, this same Apostle; Godliness with sufficiency is a great getting. Getting is the acquiring of gain. The world is yours in common with the rich; you have not a house in common with the rich, but you have the heaven in common, the light in common. Seek only for a sufficiency, seek for what is enough, and do not wish for more. All the rest is a weight, rather than a help; a burden, rather than an honour. Godliness with sufficiency is great gain. First is Godliness. Godliness is the worship of God. Godliness with sufficiency. For we brought nothing into this world. Did you bring anything hither? Nay, not even did ye rich bring anything. You found all here, you were born naked as the poor. In both alike is the same bodily infirmity; the same infant crying, the witness of our misery. For we brought nothing into this world (he is speaking to the poor), neither can we carry anything out. And having food and covering, let us be therewith content. For they who wish to be rich. Who wish to be, not who are. For they who are so, well and good. They have heard their lesson, that they be rich in good works, that they distribute easily, that they communicate. They have heard already. Do ye now hear who are not yet rich. They who wish to be rich, fall into temptation and a snare, and into many hurtful and foolish lusts. Do ye not fear? Hear what follows; which drown men in destruction and perdition. Do you not now fear? for avarice is the root of all evil? Avarice is the wishing to be rich, not the being rich already. This is avarice. Do you not fear to be drowned in destruction and perdition? Do you not fear avarice the root of all evil? Thou pluckest up out of your field the root of thorns, and will you not pluck up out of your heart the root of evil desires? Thou cleansest your field from which your body gets its fruit, and will you not cleanse your heart where your God indwells? For avarice is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and entangled themselves in many sorrows.

7. You have now heard what ye must do, you have heard what ye must fear, you have heard how the kingdom of heaven may be purchased, you have heard by what the kingdom of heaven may be hindered. Be all of one mind in obeying the word of God. God made both the rich and poor. Scripture says, The rich and the poor meet together, the Lord is the Maker of them both. The rich and the poor meet together. In what way, except in this present life? The rich and the poor are born alike. You meet one another as you walk on the way together. Do not oppress or defraud. The one has need, the other has plenty. But the Lord is the Maker of them both. By him who has, He helps him that needs; by him who has not, He proves him that has. We have heard, we have spoken; let us fear, let us take heed, let us pray, let us attain.

Sermon 36 on the New Testament

[LXXXVI. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 19:21 ,Go, sell that you have, and give to the poor, etc.

1. The Gospel by the present lesson has reminded me to speak to you, Beloved, of the heavenly treasure. For our God has not, as unbelieving covetous men suppose, wished us to lose what we have: if what has been enjoined us be properly understood, and piously believed, and devoutly received; He has not enjoined us to lose, but rather shown a place where we may lay up. For no man can help thinking of his treasure, and following his riches in a kind of journeying of the heart. If then they are buried in the earth, his heart will seek the lowest earth; but if they are reserved in heaven, his heart will be above. If Christians therefore have the will to do what they know that they also make open profession of (not that all who hear know this; and I would that they who have known it, knew it not in vain); if then they have the will to lift up the heart above, let them lay up there, what they love; and though yet in the flesh on earth, let them dwell with Christ in heart; and as her Head went before the Church, so let the heart of the Christian go before him. As the members are to go where Christ the Head has gone before, so shall each man at his rising again go where his heart has now gone before. Let us go hence then by that part of us which we may; our whole man will follow whither one part of us is gone before. Our earthly house must fall to ruin; our heavenly house is eternal. Let us move our goods beforehand, whither we are ourselves getting ready to come.

2. We have just heard a certain rich man seeking counsel from the Good Master as to the means of obtaining eternal life. Great was the thing he loved, and of little value was that he was unwilling to renounce. And so in perverseness of heart, on hearing Him whom he had but now called Good Master, through the overpowering love of what was valueless, he lost the possession of what was of great price. If he had not wished to obtain eternal life, he would not have asked counsel how to obtain eternal life. How is it then, Brethren, that he rejected the words of Him whom he had called Good Master, drawn out for him as they were from the doctrine of the faith? What? Is He a Good Master before He teaches, and when He has taught, a bad one? Before He taught, He was called Good. He did not hear what he wished, but he did hear what was proper for him; he had come with longing, but he went away in sadness. What if He had told him, Lose what you have? When he went away sad, because it was said, Keep what you have securely. Go, says He, sell all that you have, and give to the poor. Are you afraid, it may be, lest you should lose it. See what follows; And you shall have treasure in heaven. Before now it may be you have set some young slave to guard your treasures; your God will be the guardian of your gold. He who gave them on earth, will Himself keep them in heaven. Perhaps he would not have hesitated to commit what he had to Christ, and was only sad because it was told him, Give to the poor; as though he would say in his heart, Had You said, Give it to Me, I will keep it in heaven for you; I would not hesitate to give it to my Lord, the 'Good Master;' but now you have said, 'Give to the poor.'

3. Let no one fear to lay out upon the poor, let no one think that he is the receiver whose hand he sees. He receives it Who bade you give it. And this I say not out of my own heart, or by any human conjecture; hear Him Himself, who at once exhorts you, and gives you a title of security. I was an hungred, says He, and you gave Me meat. And when after the enumeration of all their kind offices, they answered, When saw we You an hungred? He answered, Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these of Mine, you have done it unto Me. It is the poor man who begs, but He that is Rich receives. You give to one who will make away with it, He receives it Who will restore it. Nor will He restore only what He receives; He is pleased to borrow upon interest, He promises more than you have given. Give the rein now to your avarice, imagine yourself an usurer. If you were an usurer indeed, you would be rebuked by the Church, confuted by the word of God, all your brethren would execrate you, as a cruel usurer, desiring to wring gain from other's tears. But now be an usurer, no one will hinder you. You are willing to lend to a poor man, who whenever he may repay you will do it with grief; but lend now to a debtor who is well able to pay, and who even exhorts you to receive what he promises.

4. Give to God, and press God for payment. Yea rather give to God, and you will be pressed to receive payment. On earth indeed you had to seek your debtor; and he sought too, but only to find where he might hide himself from your face. You had gone to the judge, and said, Bid that my debtor be summoned; and he on hearing this gets away, and cares not even to wish you well, though to him perhaps in his need you had given wealth by your loan. You have one then on whom you may well lay out your money. Give to Christ; He will of His own accord press you to receive, while you will even wonder that He has received ought of you. For to them who are placed on His right hand He will first say, Come, you blessed of My Father. Come whither? Receive the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For what? For I was an hundred, and you gave Me meat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick and in prison, and you visited Me. And they will say, Lord, when saw we You? What does this mean? The debtor presses to pay, and the creditors make excuses. But the trusty debtor will not let them suffer loss thereby. Do ye hesitate to receive? I have received, and are you ignorant of it? and He makes answer how He has received; Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these of Mine, you have done it unto Me. I received it not by Myself; but by Mine. What was given to them came to Me; be secure, you have not lost it. You looked to those who were little able to pay on earth; you have One who is well able to pay in heaven. I, He says, have received, I will repay.

5. And what have I received, and what do I repay? 'I was an hungred,' He says, 'and you gave Me meat;' and the rest. I received earth, I will give heaven; I received temporal things, I will restore eternal; I received bread, I will give life. Yea, we may even say thus, I have received bread, I will give Bread; I have received drink, I will give Drink; I have received houseroom, I will give a House; I was visited in sickness, I will give Health; I was visited in prison, I will give Liberty. The bread which you gave to My poor is consumed; the Bread which I will give both recruits the failing and does not fail. May He then give us Bread, He who is the living Bread which came down from heaven. When He shall give Bread, He will give Himself. For what did you intend when you lent on usury? To give money, and to receive money; but to give a smaller sum, and to receive a larger. I, says God, will give you an exchange for the better for all that you have given Me. For if you were to give a pound of silver, and to receive a pound of gold, with how great joy would you be possessed? Examine and question avarice. I have given a pound of silver, I receive a pound of gold! What proportion is there between silver and gold! Much more then, what proportion is there between earth and heaven! And your silver and gold you were to leave here below; whereas you will not abide yourself for ever here. And I will give you something else, and I will give you something more, and I will give you something better; I will give you even that which will last forever. So then, Brethren, be our avarice restrained, that another, which is holy, may be enkindled. Evil altogether is her counsel, who hinders you from doing good. You are willing to serve an evil mistress, not owning a Good Lord. And sometimes two mistresses occupy the heart, and tear the slave asunder who deserves to be in slavery to such a double yoke.

6. Yes, sometimes two opposing mistresses have possession of a man, avarice and luxuriousness. Avarice says, Keep; luxuriousness, says, Spend. Under two mistresses bidding and exacting diverse things what can you do? They have both their mode of address. And when you begin to be unwilling to obey them, and to take a step towards your liberty; because they have no power to command, they use caresses. And their caresses are more to be guarded against than their commands. What says avarice? Keep for yourself, keep for your children. If you should be in want, no one will give to you. Live not for the time present only; consult for the future. On the other hand is luxuriousness. Live while you may. Do good to your own soul. Die you must, and you know not when; you know not to whom you shall leave what you have, or who shall possess it. You are taking the bread out of your own mouth, and perhaps after your death your heir will not so much as place a cup of wine upon your tomb; or if so be he place a cup, he will drink himself drunk with it, not a drop will come down to you. Do well therefore to your own soul, when and while you can. Thus avarice did enjoin one thing; Keep for yourself, consult for the future. Luxuriousness another, Do well to your own soul.

7. But O free man, called unto liberty, be weary, be weary of your servitude to such mistresses as these. Acknowledge your Redeemer, your Deliverer. Serve Him, He enjoins easier things, He enjoins not things contrary one to another. I am bold further to say; avarice and luxuriousness did enjoin upon you contrary things, so that you could not obey them both; and one said, Keep for yourself, and consult for the future; the other said, Spend freely, do well to your own soul. Now let your Lord and your Redeemer come forth, and He shall say the same, and yet no contrary things. If you will not, His house has no need of an unwilling servant. Consider your Redeemer, consider your Ransom. He came to redeem you, He shed His Blood. Dear He held you whom He purchased at so dear a price. Thou dost acknowledge Him who bought you, consider from what He redeems you. I say nothing of the other sins which lord it proudly over you; for you were serving innumerable masters. I speak only of these two, luxuriousness and avarice, giving you contrary injunctions, hurrying you into different things. Deliver yourself from them, come to your God. If you were the servant of iniquity, be now the servant of righteousness. The words which they spoke to you, and the contrary injunctions they gave you, the very same you hear now from your Lord, yet are His injunctions not contrary. He does not take away their words, but he takes away their power. What did avarice say to you? Keep for yourself, consult for the future. The word is not changed, but the man is changed. Now, if you will, compare the counsellors. The one is avarice, the other righteousness.

8. Examine these contrary injunctions. Keep for yourself, says avarice. Suppose you are willing to obey her, ask her where you are to keep? Some well-defended place she will show you, walled chamber, or iron chest. Well, use all precautions; yet perhaps some thief in the house will burst open the secret places; and while you are taking precautions for your money, you will be in fear of your life. It may be while you are keeping up your store, he whose mind is set to plunder them, has it even in his thoughts to kill you. Lastly, even though by various precautions you should defend your treasure and your clothes against thieves; defend them still against the rust and moth. What can you do then? Here is no enemy without to take away your goods, but one within consuming them.

9. No good counsel then has avarice given. See she has enjoined you to keep, yet has not found a place where you may keep. Let her give also her next advice, Consult for the future. For what future? For a few and those uncertain days. She says, Consult for the future, to a man who, it may be, will not live even till tomorrow. But suppose him to live as long as avarice thinks he will, not as long as she can prove, or assure him, or have any confidence about, but suppose him to live as long as she thinks, that he grow old and so come to his end: when he is even now bent double with old age, and leaning on his stick for support, still is he seeking gain, and hears avarice saying still, Consult for the future. For what future? When he is even at his last breath she speaks. She says, for your children's sake. Would that at least we did not find the old men who had no children avaricious. Yet to these even, to such as these even, who cannot even excuse their iniquity by any empty show of natural affection, she ceases not to say, Consult for the future. But it may be that these will soon blush for themselves; so let us look to those who have children, whether they are certain that their children will possess what they shall leave? Let them observe in their lifetime the children of other men, some losing what they had by the unjust violence of others, others by their own wickedness consuming what they possessed; and they remain in poor estate, who were the children of rich men. Cease then to be the home-born slaves of avarice. But a man will say, My children will possess this. It is uncertain; I do not say, it is false, but at best, it is uncertain. But now suppose it to be certain, what do you wish to leave them? What you have gotten for yourself. Assuredly what you have gotten was not left you, yet you have it. If you have been able to get possession of what was not left to you, then will they also be able to get what you shall not leave to them.

10. Thus have the counsels of avarice been refuted; but now let the Lord say the same words, now let righteousness speak: the words will be the same, but not the same the meaning. Keep for yourself, says the Lord, consult for the future. Now ask Him, Where shall I keep? You shall have treasure in heaven, where no thief approaches, nor moth corrupts. Against what an enduring future shall you keep it! Come, you blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And of how many days this kingdom is, the end of the passage shows. For after He had said of those on the left hand, So these shall go away into everlasting burning; of those on the right hand He says, but the righteous into life eternal. This is consulting for the future. A future which has no future beyond it. Those days without an end are called both days, and a day. For one when he was speaking of those days, says, That I may dwell in the house of the Lord for length of days. And they are called a day, This day have I begotten you. Now those days are one day; because there is no time, in it; that day is neither preceded by a yesterday, nor succeeded by a tomorrow. So then let us consult for the future: the words indeed which avarice said to you are not different in terms from this, yet by them is avarice overthrown.

11. One thing may yet be said, But what am I to do about my children? Hear on this point also the counsel of your Lord. If your Lord should say to you, The thoughts of them concern Me more who did create, than you who begot them, perhaps you could have nothing to say. Yet you will look upon that rich man who went away sorrowful, and was rebuked in the Gospel, and will say to yourself perhaps, That rich man did evil in not selling all and giving to the poor, because he had no children; but I have children; I have those for whom I should be keeping something. In this weakness too the Lord is ready to advise with you. I would be bold to speak through His mercy; I would be bold to say something, not of my own imagining, but of His pity. Keep then for your children too, but hear me. Suppose (such is man's condition) any one should lose one of his children; mark, Brethren, mark how that avarice has no excuse, either as respects this world or the world to come. Such, I say, is man's condition; for it is not that I wish it, but we see instances. Some Christian child has been lost: you have lost a Christian child; not that you have indeed lost him, but hast sent him before you. For he is not gone quite away, but gone before. Ask your own faith: surely you too will go there presently, where he has gone before. It is but a short question I ask, which yet I suppose no one will answer. Does your son live? Ask your faith. If he live then, why is his portion seized upon by his brothers? But you will say, What, will he return and possess it? Let it then be sent to him whither he is gone before; he cannot come to his goods, his goods can go to him. Consider only with Whom he is. If any son were serving at the Court, and became the Emperor's friend, and were to say to you, Sell my portion, which is there, and send it to me; would you find what to answer him? Well, your son is now with the Emperor of all emperors, with the King of all kings, with the Lord of all lords; send to Him. I do not say your son is in need himself; but his Lord with whom he is, is in need upon the earth. He vouchsafes to receive here, what He gives in heaven. Do what some avaricious men are wont to do, make out a conveyance, bestow upon those who are in pilgrimage, what you may receive in your own country.

12. But now I am not speaking at all of yourself, but of your child. You are hesitating to give what is your own, yea, rather art hesitating to restore what is another's; surely you are hereby convicted, that it was not for your children that you were laying up. See, you do not give to your children, seeing you will even take away from your children. From this child at all events will you take away. Why is he unworthy to receive his part, because he is living with One worthier than all? There would be reason in it, if he with whom your son is living, were unwilling to receive it. Rich shall you now be for your house, but that the house of God. So far it is then from me to say to you, Give what you have; that I am saying to you, Pay that you owe. But you will say, His brothers will have it. O evil maxim, which may teach your children to wish for their brother's death. If they shall be enriched by the property of their deceased brother, take heed how they may watch for one another in your house. What then will you do? Will you divide his patrimony, and so give lessons of parricide?

13. But I am unwilling to speak of the loss of a child, lest I seem to threaten calamities, which do befall men. Let us speak in some more happy and auspicious tone. I do not say then, you will have one less; reckon rather that you have one more. Give Christ a place with your children, be your Lord added to your family; be your Creator added to your offspring, be your Brother added to the number of your children. For though there is so great a distance, yet has He condescended to be a Brother. And though He be the Father's Only Son, He has vouchsafed to have coheirs. Lo, how bountifully has He given! Why will you give in such barren sort? You have two children; reckon Him a third: you have three, let Him be reckoned as a fourth: you have five, let Him be called a sixth; you have ten, let Him be the eleventh. I will say no more; keep the place of one child for your Lord. For what you shall give to your Lord, will profit both you and your children; whereas, what you keep for your children wrongly, will hurt both you and them. Now you will give one portion, which you have reckoned as one child's portion. Reckon that you have got one child more.

14. What great demand is this, my Brethren? I give you counsel only; do I use violence? As says the Apostle, This I speak for your own profit, not that I may cast a snare upon you. I imagine, Brethren, that it is a light and easy thought for a father of children to suppose that he has one child more, and thereby to procure such an inheritance as you may possess for ever, both you and your children. Avarice can say nothing against it. You have cried out in acclamation at these words. Turn your words rather against her; let her not overcome you; let her not have greater power in your hearts, than your Redeemer. Let her not have greater power in your hearts, than He who exhorts us to lift up our hearts. And so now let us dismiss her.

15. What says luxuriousness? What? Do well to your own soul. See also the Lord says the same, Do well to your own soul. What luxuriousness was saying to you, the same says Righteousness to you. But consider here again in what sense the words are used. If you would do well to your own soul, consider that rich man who wished to do well to his soul, after the counsel of luxuriousness and avarice. His ground brought forth plentifully, and he had no room where to bestow his fruits; and he said, What shall I do? I have no room where to bestow my fruits; I have found out what to do; I will pull down my old barns, and build new, and will fill them, and say to my soul, You have much goods; take your pleasure. Hear the counsel against luxuriousness; You fool, this night your soul shall be required of you; and whose shall those things be which you have provided? And whither must that soul which shall be required of him go? This night it shall be required, and shall go he knows not whither.

16. Consider that other luxurious, proud, rich man. He feasted sumptuously every day, and was clothed in purple and fine linen; and the poor man laid at his gate full of sores, and desired in vain the crumbs from the rich man's table; he fed the dogs with his sores, but he was not fed by the rich man. They both died; one of them was buried; of the other what is said? He was carried by the Angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man sees the poor man; yea rather it is now the poor man sees the rich; he longs for a drop of water on his tongue from his finger, from him who once longed for a crumb from his table. Indeed their lot was changed. The dead rich man asks for this in vain: O let not us who are alive hear it in vain. For he wished to return again to the world, and was not permitted; he wished one of the dead to be sent to his brethren, neither was this granted him. But what was said to him? They have Moses and the Prophets; and he said, They will not hear except one go from the dead. Abraham said to him, If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they believe though one go from the dead.

17. What luxuriousness then said in a perverted sense concerning the giving of alms, and procuring rest for our souls against the time to come, that so we may do well to our souls, Moses also and the Prophets have spoken. Let us give ear while we are alive. Because there he will desire in vain to hear, who has despised these words when he heard them here. Are we expecting that one should rise even from the dead, and tell us to do well to our own souls? It has been done already: your father has not risen again, but your Lord has risen. Hear Him, and accept good counsel. Spare not your treasures, spend as freely as you can. This was the voice of luxuriousness: it has become the Lord's Voice. Spend as freely as you can, do well to your soul, lest this night your soul be required. Here then you have in Christ's Name a discourse as I think on the duty of almsgiving. This your voice now applauding, is then only well-pleasing to the Lord, if He see withal your hands active in works of mercy.

Sermon 37 on the New Testament

[LXXXVII. Ben.]

Delivered on the Lord's Day, on that which is written in the Gospel, Matthew 20:1 , The kingdom of heaven is like a man that was a householder, who went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.

1. You have heard out of the Holy Gospel a parable well suited to the present season, concerning the labourers in the vineyard. For now is the time of the material vintage. Now there is also a spiritual vintage, wherein God rejoices in the fruit of His vineyard. For we cultivate God, and God cultivates us. But we do not so cultivate God as to make Him any better thereby. For our cultivation is the labour of the heart, not of the hands. He cultivates us as the husbandman does his field. In then that He cultivates us, He makes us better; because so does the husbandman make his field better by cultivating it, and the very fruit He seeks in us is, that we may cultivate Him. The culture He exercises on us is, that He ceases not to root out by His Word the evil seeds from our hearts, to open our heart, as it were, by the plough of His Word, to plant the seed of His precepts, to wait for the fruit of piety. For when we have so received that culture into our heart, as to cultivate Him well, we are not ungrateful to our Husbandman, but render the fruit wherein He rejoices. And our fruit does not make Him the richer, but us the happier.

2. See then; hear how, as I have said, God cultivates us. For that we cultivate God, there is no need to be proved to you. For all men have this on their tongue, that men cultivate God, but the hearer feels a kind of awe, when he hears that God cultivates man; because it is not after the ordinary usage of men to say, that God cultivates men, but that men cultivate God. We ought therefore to prove to you, that God also does cultivate men; lest perchance we be thought to have spoken a word contrary to sound doctrine, and men dispute in their heart against us, and as not knowing our meaning, find fault with us. I have determined therefore to show you, that God does also cultivate us; but as I have said already, as a field, that He may make us better. Thus the Lord says in the Gospel, I am the Vine, you are the branches, My Father is the Husbandman. What does the Husbandman do? I ask you who are husbandmen. I suppose he cultivates his field. If then God the Father be a Husbandman, He has a field; and His field He cultivates, and from it He expects fruit.

3. Again, He planted a vineyard, as the Lord Jesus Christ Himself says, and let it out to husbandmen, who should render Him the fruit in the proper season. And He sent His servants to them to ask for the hire of the vineyard. But they treated them despitefully, and killed some, and contemptuously refused to render the fruits. He sent others also, they suffered the like treatment. And then the Householder, the Cultivator of His field, and the Planter, and Letter out of His vineyard, said; I will send Mine Only Son, it may be they will at least reverence Him. And so He says, He sent His Own Son also. They said among themselves, This is the heir, come, let us kill Him, and the inheritance shall be ours. And they killed Him, and cast Him out of the vineyard. When the Lord of the vineyard comes, what will He do to those wicked husbandmen? They answered, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out His vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render Him the fruits in their seasons. The vineyard was planted when the law was given in the hearts of the Jews. The Prophets were sent, seeking fruit, even their good life: the Prophets were treated despitefully by them, and were killed. Christ also was sent, the Only Son of the Householder; and they killed Him who was the Heir, and so lost the inheritance. Their evil counsel turned out contrary to their designs. They killed Him that they might possess the inheritance; and because they killed Him, they lost it.

4. You have just heard too the parable out of the Holy Gospel; that the kingdom of heaven is like a householder, which went out to hire labourers into His vineyard. He went out in the morning, and hired those whom he found, and agreed with them for a denarius as their hire. He went out again at the third hour, and found others, and brought them to the labour of the vineyard. And the sixth and ninth hour he did likewise. He went out also at the eleventh hour, near the end of the day, and found some idle and standing still, and he said to them, Why stand ye here? Why do ye not work in the vineyard? They answered, Because no man has hired us. Go also, said He, and whatsoever is right I will give you. His pleasure was to fix their hire at a denarius. How could they who had only to work one hour dare hope for a denarius? Yet they congratulated themselves in the hope that they should receive something. So then these were brought in even for one hour. At the end of the day he ordered the hire to be paid to all, from the last to the first. Then he began to pay at those who had come in at the eleventh hour, and he commanded a denarius to be given them. When they who had come at the first hour saw that the others had received a denarius, which he had agreed for with themselves they hoped that they should have received more: and when their turn came, they also received a denarius. They murmured against the good man of the house, saying, Behold, you have made us who have borne the burning and heat of the day, equal and like to those who have laboured but one hour in the vineyard. And the good man, returning a most just answer to one of them, said, Friend, I do you no wrong; that is, I have not defrauded you, I have paid you what I agreed for with you. I have done you no wrong, for I have paid you what I agreed for. To this other it is my will not to render a payment, but to bestow a gift. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own? Is your eye evil, because I am good? If I had taken from any one what did not belong to me, rightly I might be blamed, as fraudulent and unjust: if I had not paid any one his due, rightly might I be blamed as fraudulent, and as withholding what belonged to another; but when I pay what is due, and give besides to whom I will, neither can he to whom I owed find fault, and he to whom I gave ought to rejoice the more. They had nothing to answer; and all were made equal; and the last became first, and the first last; by equality of treatment, not by inverting their order. For what is the meaning of, the last were first, and the first last? That both the first and last received the same.

5. How is it that he began to pay at the last? Are not all, as we read, to receive together? For we read in another place of the Gospel, that He will say to those whom He shall set on the right hand, Come, you blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. If all then are to receive together, how do we understand in this place, that they received first who began to work at the eleventh hour, and they last who were hired at the first hour? If I shall be able so to speak, as to reach your understanding, God be thanked. For to Him ought ye to render thanks, who distributes to you by me; for nought of my own do I distribute. If you ask me, for example, which of the two has received first, he who has received after one hour, or he who after twelve hours; every man would answer that he who has received after one hour, has received before him who received after twelve hours. So then though they all received at the same hour, yet because some received after one hour, others after twelve hours, they who received after so short a time are said to have received first. The first righteous men, as Abel, and Noe, called as it were at the first hour, will receive together with us the blessedness of the resurrection. Other righteous men after them, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all of their age, called as it were at the third hour, will receive together with us the blessedness of the resurrection. Other righteous men, as Moses, and Aaron, and whosoever with them were called as it were at the sixth hour, will receive together with us the blessedness of the resurrection. After them the Holy Prophets, called as it were at the ninth hour, will receive together with us the same blessedness. In the end of the world all Christians, called as it were at the eleventh hour, will receive with the rest the blessedness of that resurrection. All will receive together; but consider those first men, after how long a time do they receive it? If then those first receive after a long time, we after a short time; though we all receive together, yet we seem to have received first, because our hire will not tarry long in coming.

6. In that hire then shall we be all equal, and the first as the last, and the last as the first; because that denarius is life eternal, and in the life eternal all will be equal. For although through diversity of attainments the saints will shine, some more, some less; yet as to this respect, the gift of eternal life, it will be equal to all. For that will not be longer to one, and shorter to another, which is alike everlasting; that which has no end will have no end either for you or me. After one sort in that life will be wedded chastity, after another virgin purity; in one sort there will be the fruit of good works, in another sort the crown of martyrdom. One in one sort, and another in another; yet in respect to the living for ever, this man will not live more than that, nor that than this. For alike without end will they live, though each shall live in his own brightness: and the denarius in the parable is that life eternal. Let not him then who has received after a long time murmur against him who has received after a short time. To the first, it is a payment; to the other, a free gift; yet the same thing is given alike to both.

7. There is also something like this in this present life, and besides that solution of the parable, by which they who were called at the first hour are understood of Abel and the righteous men of his age, and they at the third, of Abraham and the righteous men of his age, and they at the sixth, of Moses and Aaron and the righteous men of their age, and they at the eleventh, as in the end of the world, of all Christians; besides this solution of the parable, the parable may be seen to have an explanation in respect even of this present life. For they are as it were called at the first hour, who begin to be Christians fresh from their mother's womb; boys are called as it were at the third, young men at the sixth, they who are verging toward old age, at the ninth hour, and they who are called as if at the eleventh hour, are they who are altogether decrepit; yet all these are to receive the one and the same denarius of eternal life.

8. But, Brethren, hearken ye and understand, lest any put off to come into the vineyard, because he is sure, that, come when he will, he shall receive this denarius. And sure indeed he is that the denarius is promised him; but this is no injunction to put off. For did they who were hired into the vineyard, when the householder came out to them to hire whom he might find, at the third hour for instance, and did hire them, did they say to him, Wait, we are not going there till the sixth hour? Or they whom he found at the sixth hour, did they say, We are not going till the ninth hour? Or they whom he found at the ninth hour, did they say, We are not going till the eleventh? For he will give to all alike; why should we fatigue ourselves more than we need? What He was to give, and what He was to do, was in the secret of His own counsel: come when you are called. For an equal reward is promised to all; but as to this appointed hour of working, there is an important question. For if, for instance, they who are called at the sixth hour, at that age of life that is, in which as in the full heat of noon, is felt the glow of manhood's years; if they, called thus in manhood, were to say, Wait, for we have heard in the Gospel that all are to receive the same reward, we will come at the eleventh hour, when we shall have grown old, and shall still receive the same. Why should we add to our labour? it would be answered them thus, Are you not willing to labour now, who dost not know whether you shall live to old age? You are called at the sixth hour; come. The Householder has it is true promised you a denarius, if you come at the eleventh hour, but whether you shall live even to the seventh, no one has promised you. I say not to the eleventh, but even to the seventh hour. Why then do you put off him that calls you, certain as you are of the reward, but uncertain of the day? Take heed then lest perhaps what he is to give you by promise, you take from yourself by delay. Now if this may rightly be said of infants as belonging to the first hour, if it may be rightly said of boys as belonging to the third, if it may be rightly said of men in the vigour of life, as in the full-day heat of the sixth hour; how much more rightly may it be said of the decrepit? Lo, already is it the eleventh hour, and do you yet stand still, and are you yet slow to come?

9. But perhaps the Householder has not gone out to call you? If he has not gone out, what mean our addresses to you? For we are servants of his household, we are sent to hire labourers. Why do you stand still then? You have now ended the number of your years; hasten after the denarius. For this is the going out of the Householder, the making himself known; forasmuch as he that is in the house is hidden, he is not seen by those who are without; but when he goes out of the house, he is seen by those without. So Christ is in secret, as long as He is not known and acknowledged; but when He is acknowledged, He has gone out to hire labourers. For now He has come forth from a hidden place, to be known of men: everywhere Christ is known, Christ is preached; all places whatsoever under the heaven proclaim aloud the glory of Christ. He was in a manner the object of derision and contempt among the Jews, He appeared in low estate and was despised. For He hid His Majesty, and manifested His infirmity. That in Him which was manifested was despised, and that which was hidden was not known. For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But is He still to be despised now that He sits in heaven, if He were despised when He was hanging on the tree? They who crucified Him wagged their head, and standing before His Cross, as though they had attained the fruit of their cruel rage, they said in mockery, If He be the Son of God, let Him come down from the Cross. He saved others, Himself He cannot save. He came not down, because He lay hid. For with far greater ease could He have come down from the Cross, who had power to rise again from the grave. He showed forth an example of patience for our instruction. He delayed His power, and was not acknowledged. For He had not then gone out to hire labourers, He had gone out, He had not made Himself known. On the third day He rose again, He showed Himself to His disciples, ascended into heaven, and sent the Holy Ghost on the fiftieth day after the resurrection, the tenth after the ascension. The Holy Ghost who was sent filled all who were in one room, one hundred and twenty men. They were filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with the tongues of all nations; now was the calling manifest, now He went out to hire. For now the power of truth began to be made known to all. For then even one man having received the Holy Ghost, spoke by himself with the tongues of all nations. But now in the Church oneness itself, as one man speaks in the tongues of all nations. For what tongue has not the Christian religion reached? To what limits does it not extend? Now is there no one who hides himself from the heat thereof; and delay is still ventured by him who stands still at the eleventh hour.

10. It is plain then, my Brethren, it is plain to all, do ye hold it fast, and be sure of it, that whenever any one turns himself to the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, from a useless or abandoned way of life, all that is past is forgiven him, and as though all his debts were cancelled, a new account is entered into with him. All is entirely forgiven. Let no one be anxious in the thought that there remains anything which is not forgiven him. But on the other hand, let no one rest in a perverse security. For these two things are the death of souls, despair, and perverse hope. For as a good and right hope saves, so does a perverse hope deceive. First, consider how despair deceives. There are men, who when they begin to reflect on the evils they have done, think they cannot be forgiven; and while they think they cannot be forgiven, immediately they give up their souls to ruin, and perish through despair, saying in their thoughts, Now there is no hope for us; for such great sins as we have committed cannot be remitted or pardoned us; why then should we not satisfy our lusts? Let us at least fill up the pleasure of the time present, seeing we have no reward in that which is to come. Let us do what we list, though it be not lawful; that we may at least have a temporal enjoyment, because we cannot attain to the receiving an eternal. In saying such things they perish through despair, either before they believe at all, or when Christians already, they have fallen by evil living into any sins and wickednesses. The Lord of the vineyard goes forth to them, and by the Prophet Ezekial knocks, and calls to them in their despair, and as they turn their backs to Him that calls them. In whatsoever day a man shall turn from his most wicked way, I will forget all his iniquities. If they hear and believe this voice, they are recovered from despair, and rise up again from that very deep and bottomless gulf, wherein they had been sunk.

11. But these must fear, lest they fall into another gulf, and they die through a perverse hope, who could not die through despair. For they change their thoughts, which are far different indeed from what they were before, but not less pernicious, and begin again to say in their hearts, If in whatever day I turn from my most evil way, the merciful God, as He truly promises by the Prophet, will forget all my iniquities, why should I turn today and not tomorrow? Let this day pass as yesterday, in excess of guilty pleasure, in the full flow of licentiousness, let it wallow in deadly delights; tomorrow I shall 'turn myself,' and there will be an end to it. One may answer you, An end of what? Of mine iniquities, you will say. Well, rejoice indeed, that tomorrow there will be an end of your iniquities. But what if before tomorrow your own end shall be? So then you do well indeed to rejoice that God has promised you forgiveness for your iniquities, if you are converted; but no one has promised you tomorrow. Or if perchance some astrologer has promised it, it is a far different thing from God's promise. Many have these astrologers deceived, in that they have promised themselves advantages, and have found only losses. Therefore for the sake of these again whose hope is wrong, does the Householder go forth. As He went forth to those who had despaired wrongly, and were lost in their despair, and called them back to hope; so does He go forth to these also who would perish through an evil hope; and by another book He says to them, Make no tarrying to turn to the Lord. As He had said to the others, In whatsoever day a man shall turn from his most wicked way, I will forget all his iniquities, and took despair away from them, because they had now given up their soul to perdition, despairing of forgiveness by any means; so does He go forth to these also who have a mind to perish through hope and delay; and speaks to them, and chides them, Make no tarrying to turn to the Lord, and put not off from day to day; for suddenly shall the wrath of the Lord come forth, and in the day of vengeance He will destroy you. Therefore put not off, shut not against yourself what now is open. Lo, the Giver of forgiveness opens the door to you; why do you delay? You ought to rejoice, were He to open after ever so long a time to your knocking; you have not knocked, yet does He open, and do you remain outside? Put not off then. Scripture says in a certain place, as touching works of mercy, Say not, Go, and come again, and tomorrow I will give; when you can do the kindness at once; for you know not what may happen on the morrow. Here then is a precept of not putting off being merciful to another, and will you by putting off be cruel against your own self? You ought not to put off to give bread, and will you put off to receive forgiveness? If you do not put off in showing pity towards another, pity your own soul also in pleasing God. Give alms to your own soul also. Nay I do not say, give to it, but thrust not back His Hand that would give to you.

12. But men continually injure themselves exceedingly in their fear to offend others. For good friends have much influence for good, and evil friends for evil. Therefore it was not the Lord's will to choose first senators, but fishermen, to teach us for our own salvation to disregard the friendship of the powerful. O signal mercy of the Creator! For He knew that had He chosen the senator, he would say, My rank has been chosen. If He had first made choice of the rich man, he would say, My wealth has been chosen. If He had first made choice of an emperor, he would say, My power has been chosen. If the orator he would say, My eloquence has been chosen. If of the philosopher, he would say, My wisdom has been chosen. Meanwhile He says, let these proud ones be put off awhile, they swell too much. Now there is much difference between substantial size and swelling; both indeed are large, but both are not alike sound. Let them then, He says, be put off, these proud ones, they must be cured by something solid. First give Me, He says, this fisherman. Come, you poor one, follow Me; you have nothing, you know nothing, follow Me. Thou poor and ignorant one, follow Me. There is nothing in you to inspire awe, but there is much in you to be filled. To so copious a fountain an empty vessel should be brought. So the fisherman left his nets, the fisherman received grace, and became a divine orator. See what the Lord did, of whom the Apostle says, God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world has God chosen, yea and things which are not, as if they were, that those things which are may be brought to nought. And so now the fishermen's words are read, and the necks of orators are brought down. Let all empty winds then be taken away, let the smoke be taken away which vanishes as it mounts; let them be utterly despised when the question is of this salvation.

13. If any one in a city had some bodily sickness, and there was in that place some very skilful physician who was an enemy to the sick man's powerful friends; if any one, I say, in a city were labouring under some dangerous bodily sickness; and there was in the same city a very skilful physician, an enemy as I said, of the sick man's powerful friends, and they were to say to their friend, Do not call him in, he knows nothing; and they were to say this not from any judgment of their mind, but through dislike of him; would he not for his own safety's sake remove from him the groundless assertions of his powerful friends, and with whatever offense to them, in order that he might live but a few days longer, call that physician in, whom common report had given out as most skilful to drive away the disease of his body? Well, the whole race of mankind is sick, not with diseases of the body, but with sin. There lies one great patient from East to West throughout the world. To cure this great patient came the Almighty Physician down. He humbled Himself even to mortal flesh, as it were to the sick man's bed. Precepts of health He gives, and is despised; they who do observe them are delivered. He is despised, when powerful friends say, He knows nothing. If He knew nothing, His power would not fill the nations. If He knew nothing, He would not have been, before He was with us. If He knew nothing, He would not have sent the Prophets before Him. Are not those things which were foretold of old, fulfilled now? Does not this Physician prove the power of His art by the accomplishment of His promises? Are not deadly errors overturned throughout the whole world; and by the threshing of the world lusts subdued? Let no one say, The world was better aforetime than now; ever since that Physician began to exercise His art, many dreadful things we witness here. Marvel not at this? Before that any were in course of healing, the Physician's residence seemed clean of blood; but now rather as seeing what you do, shake off all vain delights, and come to the Physician, it is the time of healing, not of pleasure.

14. Let us then think, Brethren, of being cured. If we do not yet know the Physician, yet let us not like frenzied men be violent against Him, or as men in a lethargy turn away from Him. For many through this violence have perished, and many have perished through sleep. The frenzied are they who are made mad for want of sleep. The lethargic are they who are weighed down by excessive sleep. Men are to be found of both these kinds. Against this Physician it is the will of some to be violent, and forasmuch as He is Himself sitting in heaven, they persecute His faithful ones on earth. Yet even such as these He cures. Many of them having been converted from enemies have become friends, from persecutors have become preachers. Such as these were the Jews, whom, though violent as men in frenzy against Him while He was here, He healed, and prayed for them as He hung upon the Cross. For He said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Yet many of them when their fury was calmed, their frenzy as it were got under, came to know God, and Christ. When the Holy Ghost was sent after the Ascension, they were converted to Him whom they crucified, and as believers drunk in the Sacrament His Blood, which in their violence they shed.

15. Of this we have examples. Saul persecuted the members of Jesus Christ, who is now sitting in heaven; grievously did he persecute them in his frenzy, in the loss of his reason, in the transport of his madness. But He with one word, calling to him out of heaven, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? struck down the frantic one, raised him up whole, killed the persecutor, quickened the preacher. And so again many lethargic ones are healed. For to such are they like, who are not violent against Christ, nor malicious against Christians, but who in their delay are only dull and heavy with drowsy words, are slow to open their eyes to the light, and are annoyed with those who would arouse them. Get away from me, says the heavy, lethargic man, I pray you, get away from me. Why? I wish to sleep. But you will die in consequence. He through love of sleep will answer, I wish to die. And Love from above calls out I do not wish it. Often does the son exhibit this loving affection to an aged father, though he must needs die in a few days; and is now in extreme old age. If he sees that he is lethargic, and knows from the physician that he is oppressed with a lethargic complaint, who tells him Arouse your father, do not let him sleep, if you would save his life! Then will the son come to the old man, and beat, and squeeze, or pinch, or prick him, or give him any uneasiness, and all through his dutiful affection to him; and will not allow him to die at once, die though he soon must from very age; and if his life is thus saved, the son rejoices that he has now to live some few days more with him who must soon depart to make way for him. With how much greater affection then ought we to be importunate with our friends, with whom we may live not a few days in this world, but in God's presence for ever! Let them then love us, and do what they hear us say, and worship Him, whom we also worship, that they may receive what we also hope for. Let us turn to the Lord, etc.

Sermon 38 on the New Testament

[LXXXVIII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 20:30 , about the two blind men sitting by the way side, and crying out, Lord, have mercy on us, Thou Son of David.

1. You know, Holy Brethren, full well as we do, that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is the Physician of our eternal health; and that to this end He took the weakness of our nature, that our weakness might not last forever. For He assumed a mortal body, wherein to kill death. And, though He was crucified through weakness, as the Apostle says, yet He lives by the power of God. They are the words too of the same Apostle; He dies no more, and death shall have no more dominion over Him. These things, I say, are well known to your faith. And there is also this which follows from it, that we should know that all the miracles which He did on the body, avail to our instruction, that we may from them perceive that which is not to pass away, nor to have any end. He restored to the blind those eyes which death was sure sometime to close; He raised Lazarus to life who was to die again. And whatever He did for the health of bodies, He did it not to this end that they should be for ever; whereas at the last He will give eternal health even to the body itself. But because those things which were not seen, were not believed; by means of these temporal things which were seen, He built up faith in those things which were not seen.

2. Let no one then, Brethren, say that our Lord Jesus Christ does not those things now, and on this account prefer the former to the present ages of the Church. In a certain place indeed the same Lord prefers those who do not see, and yet believe, to them who see and therefore believe. For even at that time so irresolute was the infirmity of His disciples, that they thought that He whom they saw to have risen again must be handled, in order that they might believe. It was not enough for their eyes that they had seen Him, unless their hands also were applied to His limbs, and the scars of His recent wounds were touched; that that disciple who was in doubt, might cry out suddenly when he had touched and recognised the scars, My Lord and my God. The scars manifested Him who had healed all wounds in others. Could not the Lord have risen again without the scars? Yes, but He knew the wounds which were in the hearts of His disciples, and to heal them He had preserved the scars on His own Body. And what said the Lord to him who now confessed and said, My Lord and my God? Because you have seen, He said, you have believed; blessed are they who do not see, and yet believe. Of whom spoke He, Brethren, but of us? Not that He spoke only of us, but of those also who shall come after us. For after a little while when He had departed from the sight of men, that faith might be established in their hearts, whosoever believed, believed, though they saw Him not, and great has been the merit of their faith; for the procuring of which faith they brought only the movement of a pious heart, and not the touching of their hands.

3. These things then the Lord did to invite us to the faith. This faith reigns now in the Church, which is spread throughout the whole world. And now He works greater cures, on account of which He disdained not then to exhibit those lesser ones. For as the soul is better than the body, so is the saving health of the soul better than the health of the body. The blind body does not now open its eyes by a miracle of the Lord, but the blinded heart opens its eyes to the word of the Lord. The mortal corpse does not now rise again, but the soul does rise again which lay dead in a living body. The deaf ears of the body are not now opened; but how many have the ears of their heart closed, which yet fly open at the penetrating word of God, so that they believe who did not believe, and they live well, who did live evilly, and they obey, who did not obey; and we say, Such a man has become a believer; and we wonder when we hear of them whom once we had known as hardened. Why then do you marvel at one who now believes, who is living innocently, and serving God; but because you behold him seeing, whom you had known to be blind; dost behold him living, whom you had known to be dead; dost behold him hearing, whom you had known to be deaf? For consider that there are who are dead in another than the ordinary sense, of whom the Lord spoke to a certain man who delayed to follow the Lord, because he wished to bury his father; Let the dead, said He, bury their dead. Surely these dead buriers are not dead in body; for if this were so, they could not bury dead bodies. Yet does he call them dead; where, but in the soul within? For as we may often see in a household, itself sound and well, the master of the same house lying dead; so in a sound body do many carry a dead soul within; and these the Apostle arouses thus, Awake, you that sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light. It is the Same who gives light to the blind, that awakens the dead. For it is with His voice that the cry is made by the Apostle to the dead, Awake, you that sleep. And the blind will be enlightened with light, when he shall have risen again. And how many deaf men did the Lord see before His eyes, when He said, He that has ears to hear, let him hear. For who was standing before Him without his bodily ears? What other ears then did He seek for, but those of the inner man?

4. Again, what eyes did He look for when He spoke to those who saw indeed, but who saw only with the eyes of the flesh? For when Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us; he understood indeed that if the Father were shown him, it might well suffice him; but how would the Father suffice him whom He that was equal to the Father sufficed not? And why did He not suffice? Because He was not seen. And why was He not seen? Because the eye whereby He might be seen was not yet whole. For this, namely, that the Lord was seen in the flesh with the outward eyes, not only the disciples who honoured Him saw, but also the Jews who crucified Him. He then who wished to be seen in another way, sought for other eyes. And therefore it was that to him who said, Show us the Father, and it suffices us; He answered, Have I been so long time with you; and yet have you not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me, has seen the Father also. And that He might in the mean while heal the eyes of faith, he has first of all instructions given him regarding faith, that so he might attain to sight. And lest Philip should think that he was to conceive of God under the same form in which he then saw the Lord Jesus Christ in the body, he immediately subjoined; Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? He had already said, He who has seen Me, has seen the Father also. But Philip's eye was not yet sound enough to see the Father, nor consequently to see the Son who is Himself Coequal with the Father. And so Jesus Christ took in hand to cure, and with the medicines and salve of faith to strengthen the eyes of his mind, which as yet were weak and unable to behold so great a light, and He said, Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? Let not him then who cannot yet see what the Lord will one day show him, seek first to see what he is to believe; but let him first believe that the eye by which he is to see may be healed. For it was only the form of the servant which was exhibited to the eyes of servants; because if He who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, could have been now seen as equal with God by those whom He wished to be healed, He would not have needed to empty Himself, and to take the form of a servant. But because there was no way whereby God could be seen, but whereby man could be seen, there was; therefore He who was God was made man, that that which was seen might heal that whereby He was not seen. For He says Himself in another place, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Philip might of course have answered and said, Lord, lo, I see You; is the Father such as I see You to be? Forasmuch as You have said, 'He who has seen Me, has seen the Father also'? But before Philip answered thus, or perhaps before he so much as thought it, when the Lord had said, He who has seen Me, has seen the Father also; He immediately added, Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? For with that eye he could, not yet see either the Father, or the Son who is equal with the Father; but that his eye might be healed for seeing, he was to be anointed unto believing. So then before you see what you can not now see, believe what as yet you see not. Walk by faith, that you may attain to sight. Sight will not gladden him in his home whom faith consoles not by the way. For so says the Apostle, As long as we are in the body, we are in pilgrimage from the Lord. And he subjoins immediately why we are still in pilgrimage, though we have now believed; For we walk by faith, He says, not by sight.

5. Our whole business then, Brethren, in this life is to heal this eye of the heart whereby God may be seen. To this end are celebrated the Holy Mysteries; to this end is preached the word of God; to this end are the moral exhortations of the Church, those, that is, that relate to the correction of manners, to the amendment of carnal lusts, to the renouncing the world, not in word only, but in a change of life: to this end is directed the whole aim of the Divine and Holy Scriptures, that that inner man may be purged of that which hinders us from the sight of God. For as the eye which is formed to see this temporal light, a light though heavenly, yet corporeal, and manifest, not to men only, but even to the meanest animals (for for this the eye is formed, to see this light); if anything be thrown or fall into it, whereby it is disordered, is shut out from this light; and though it encompass the eye with its presence, yet the eye turns itself away from, and is absent from it; and through its disordered condition is not only rendered absent from the light which is present, but the light to see which it was formed, is even painful to it. So the eye of the heart too when it is disordered and wounded turns away from the light of righteousness, and dares not and cannot contemplate it.

6. And what is it that disorders the eye of the heart? Evil desire, covetousness, injustice, worldly concupiscence, these disorder, close, blind the eye of the heart. And yet when the eye of the body is out of order, how is the physician sought out, what an absence of all delay to open and cleanse it, that that may be healed whereby this outward light is seen! There is running to and fro, no one is still, no one loiters, if even the smallest straw fall into the eye. And God it must be allowed made the sun which we desire to see with sound eyes. Much brighter assuredly is He who made it; nor is the light with which the eye of the mind is concerned of this kind at all. That light is eternal Wisdom. God made you, O man, after His own image. Would He give you wherewithal to see the sun which He made, and not give you wherewithal to see Him who made you, when He made you after His own image? He has given you this also; both has He given you. But much do you love these outward eyes, and much do you despise that interior eye; it you carry about bruised and wounded. Yea, it would be a punishment to you, if your Maker should wish to manifest Himself unto you; it would be a punishment to your eye, before that it is cured and healed. For so Adam in paradise sinned, and hid himself from the face of God. As long then as he had the sound heart of a pure conscience, he rejoiced at the presence of God; when that eye was wounded by sin, he began to dread the Divine light, he fled back into the darkness, and the thick covert of the trees, flying from the truth, and anxious for the shade.

7. Therefore, my Brethren, since we too are born of him, and as the Apostle says, In Adam all die; for we were all at first two persons if we were loth to obey the physician, that we might not be sick; let us obey Him now, that we may be delivered from sickness. The physician gave us precepts, when we were whole; He gave us precepts that we might not need a physician. They that are whole, He says, need not a physician, but they that are sick. When whole we despised these precepts, and by experience have felt how to our own destruction we despised His precepts. Now we are sick, we are in distress, we are on the bed of weakness; yet let us not despair. For because we could not come to the Physician, He has vouchsafed to come Himself to us. Though despised by man when he was whole, He did not despise him when he was stricken. He did not leave off to give other precepts to the weak, who would not keep the first precepts, that he might not be weak; as though He would say, Assuredly you have by experience felt that I spoke the truth when I said, Touch not this. Be healed then now at length, and recover the life you have lost. Lo, I am bearing your infirmity; drink the bitter cup. For you have of your own self made those my so sweet precepts which were given to you when whole, so toilsome. They were despised and so your distress began; cured you can not be, unless you drink the bitter cup, the cup of temptations, wherein this life abounds, the cup of tribulation, anguish, and sufferings. Drink then, He says, drink, that you may live. And that the sick man may not make answer, I cannot, I cannot bear it, I will not drink; the Physician, all whole though he be, drinks first, that the sick man may not hesitate to drink. For what bitterness is there in this cup, which He has not drunk? If it be contumely; He heard it first when He drove out the devils, He has a devil, and by Beelzebub He casts out devils. Whereupon in order to comfort the sick, He says, If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of His household? If pains are this bitter cup, He was bound and scourged and crucified. If death be this bitter cup, He died also. If infirmity shrink with horror from any particular kind of death, none was at that time more ignominious than the death of the cross. For it was not in vain that the Apostle, when setting forth His obedience, added, Made obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

8. But because He designed to honour His faithful ones at the end of the world, He has first honoured the cross in this world; in such wise that the princes of the earth who believe in Him have prohibited any criminal from being crucified; and that cross which the Jewish persecutors with great mockery prepared for the Lord, even kings His servants at this day bear with great confidence on their foreheads. Only the shameful nature of the death which our Lord vouchsafed to undergo for us is not now so apparent, Who, as the Apostle says, was made a curse for us. And when as He hung, the blindness of the Jews mocked Him, surely He could have come down from the Cross, who if He had not so willed, had not been on the Cross; but it was a greater thing to rise from the grave than to come down from the Cross. Our Lord then in doing these Divine, and in suffering these human things, instructs us by His Bodily miracles and Bodily patience, that we may believe, and be made whole to behold those things invisible which the eye of the body has no knowledge of. With this intent then He cured these blind men of whom the account has just now been read in the Gospel. And consider what instruction He has by their cure conveyed to the man who is sick within.

9. Consider the issue of the thing, and the order of the circumstances. Those two blind men sitting by the way side cried out as the Lord passed by, that He would have mercy upon them. But they were restrained from crying out by the multitude which was with the Lord. Now do not suppose that this circumstance is left without a mysterious meaning. But they overcame the crowd who kept them back by the great perseverance of their cry, that their voice might reach the Lord's ears; as though He had not already anticipated their thoughts. So then the two blind men cried out that they might be heard by the Lord, and could not be restrained by the multitudes. The Lord was passing by, and they cried out. The Lord stood still, and they were healed. For the Lord Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will you that I shall do unto you? They say unto Him, That our eyes may be opened. The Lord did according to their faith, He recovered their eyes. If we have now understood by the sick, the deaf, the dead, the sick, and deaf, and dead, within; let us look out in this place also for the blind within. The eyes of the heart are clossd; Jesus passes by that we may cry out. What is, Jesus passes by? Jesus is doing things which last but for a time. What is Jesus passes by? Jesus does things which pass by. Mark and see how many things of His have passed by. He was born of the Virgin Mary; is He being born always? As an infant was He suckled; is He suckled always? He ran through the successive ages of life unto man's full estate; does He grow in body always? Boyhood succeeded to infancy, to boyhood youth, to youth man's full stature in several passing successions. Even the very miracles which He did are passed by, they are read and believed. For because these miracles are written that so they might be read, they passed by when they were being done. In a word, not to dwell long on this, He was Crucified: is He hanging on the Cross always? He was Buried, He Rose again, He Ascended into heaven; now He dies no more, death shall no more have dominion over Him. And His Divinity abides ever, yea, the Immortality of His Body now shall never fail. But nevertheless all those things which were wrought by Him in time have passed by; and they are written to be read, and they are preached to be believed. In all these things then, Jesus passes by.

10. And what are the two blind men by the way side, but the two people to cure whom Jesus came? Let us show those two people in the Holy Scriptures. It is written in the Gospel, Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also must I bring, that there may be one fold and One Shepherd. Who then are the two people? One the people of the Jews, and the other of the Gentiles. I am not sent, He says, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. To whom did He say this? To the disciples; when that woman of Canaan who confessed herself to be a dog, cried out that she might be found worthy of the crumbs from the master's table. And because she was found worthy, now were the two people to whom He had come made manifest: the Jewish people, to wit, of whom He said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel; and the people of the Gentiles, whose type this woman exhibited whom He had first rejected, saying, It is not meet to cast the children's bread to the dogs; and to whom when she said, Truth, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table; He answered, O woman, great is your faith, be it unto you even as you will. For of this people also was that centurion of whom the same Lord says, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. Because he had said, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof, but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. So then the Lord even before His Passion and Glorification pointed out two people, the one to whom He had come because of the promises to the Fathers; and the other whom for His mercy's sake He did not reject; that it might be fulfilled which had been promised to Abraham, In your seed shall all nations be blessed. Wherefore also the Apostle after the Lord's Resurrection and Ascension, when He was despised by the Jews, went to the Gentiles. Not that he was silent however towards the Churches which consisted of Jewish believers; I was unknown, he says, by face unto the Churches of Judæa which were in Christ. But they heard only that he which persecuted us in times past, now preaches the faith which once he destroyed, and they glorified God in me. So again Christ is called the Corner Stone who made both one. For a corner joins two walls which come from different sides together. And what was so different as the circumcision and uncircumcision, having one wall from Judæa, the other from the Gentiles? But they are joined together by the corner stone. For the stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner. There is no corner in a building, except when two walls coming from different directions meet together, and are joined in a kind of unity. The two blind men then crying out unto the Lord were these two walls according to the figure.

11. Attend now, dearly Beloved. The Lord was passing by, and the blind men cried out. What is was passing by? As we have already said, He was doing works which passed by. Now upon these passing works is our faith built up. For we believe in the Son of God, not only in that He is the word of God, by whom all things were made; for if He had always continued in the form of God, equal with God, and had not emptied Himself in taking the form of a servant, the blind men would not even have perceived Him, that they might be able to cry out. But when He wrought passing works, that is, when He humbled Himself, having become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, the two blind men cried out, Have mercy on us, you Son of David. For this very thing that He David's Lord and Creator, willed also to be David's Son, He wrought in time, He wrought passing by.

12. Now what is it, Brethren, to cry out unto Christ, but to correspond to the grace of Christ by good works? This I say, Brethren, lest haply we cry aloud with our voices, and in our lives be dumb. Who is he that cries out to Christ, that his inward blindness may be driven away by Christ as He is passing by, that is, as He is dispensing to us those temporal sacraments, whereby we are instructed to receive the things which are eternal? Who is he that cries out unto Christ? Whoever despises the world, cries out unto Christ. Whoever despises the pleasures of the world, cries out unto Christ. Whoever says not with his tongue, but with his life, The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world, cries out unto Christ. Whoever disperses abroad and gives to the poor, that his righteousness may endure for ever, cries out unto Christ. For let him that hears, and is not deaf to the sound, sell that you have, and give to the poor; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that fails not; let him as he hears the sound as it were of Christ's footsteps passing by, cry out in response to this in his blindness, that is, let him do these things. Let his voice be in his actions. Let him begin to despise the world, to distribute to the poor his goods, to esteem as nothing worth what other men love, let him disregard injuries, not seek to be avenged, let him give his cheek to the smiter, let him pray for his enemies; if any one have taken away his goods, let him not ask for them again; if he have taken anything from any man, let him restore fourfold.

13. When he shall begin to do all this, all his kinsmen, relations, and friends will be in commotion. They who love this world, will oppose him. What madness this! You are too extreme: what! Are not other men Christians? This is folly, this is madness. And other such like things do the multitude cry out to prevent the blind from crying out. The multitude rebuked them as they cried out; but did not overcome their cries. Let them who wish to be healed understand what they have to do. Jesus is now also passing by; let them who are by the way side cry out. These are they who know God with their lips, but their heart is far from Him. These are by the way side, to whom as blinded in heart Jesus gives His precepts. For when those passing things which Jesus did are recounted, Jesus is always represented to us as passing by. For even unto the end of the world there will not be wanting blind men sitting by the way side. Need then there is that they who sit by the way side should cry out. The multitude that was with the Lord would repress the crying of those who were seeking for recovery. Brethren, do ye see my meaning? For I know not how to speak, but still less do I know how to be silent. I will speak then, and speak plainly. For I fear Jesus passing by and Jesus standing still; and therefore I cannot keep silence. Evil and lukewarm Christians hinder good Christians who are truly earnest, and wish to do the commandments of God which are written in the Gospel. This multitude which is with the Lord hinders those who are crying out, hinders those that is who are doing well, that they may not by perseverance be healed. But let them cry out, and not faint; let them not be led away as if by the authority of numbers; let them not imitate those who became Christians before them, who live evil lives themselves, and are jealous of the good deeds of others. Let them not say, Let us live as these so many live. Why not rather as the Gospel ordains? Why do you wish to live according to the remonstrances of the multitude who would hinder you, and not after the steps of the Lord, who passes by? They will mock, and abuse, and call you back; cry out till you reach the ears of Jesus. For they who shall persevere in doing such things as Christ has enjoined, and regard not the multitudes that hinder them, nor think much of their appearing to follow Christ, that is of their being called Christians; but who love the light which Christ is about to restore to them, more than they fear the uproar of those who are hindering them; they shall on no account be separated from Him, and Jesus will stand still, and make them whole.

14. For how are our eyes made whole? That as by faith we perceive Christ passing by in the temporal economy, so we may attain to the knowledge of Him as standing still in His unchangeable Eternity. For then is the eye made whole when the knowledge of Christ's Divinity is attained. Let your love apprehend this; attend ye to the great mystery which I am to speak of. All the things which were done by our Lord Jesus Christ in time, graft faith in us. We believe in the Son of God, not on the Word only, by which all things were made; but on this very Word, made flesh that He might dwell among us, who was born of the Virgin Mary, and the rest which the Faith contains, and which are represented to us that Christ might pass by, and that the blind, hearing His footsteps as He passes by, might by their works cry out, by their life exemplifying the profession of their faith. But now in order that they who cry out may be made whole, Jesus stands still. For he saw Jesus now standing still who says, Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more. For he saw Christ's Divinity as far as in this life is possible. There is then in Christ the Divinity and the Humanity. The Divinity stands still, the Humanity passes by. What means, The Divinity stands still? It changes not, is not shaken, does not depart away. For He did not so come to us, as to depart from the Father; nor did He so ascend as to change His place. When He assumed Flesh, it changed place; but God assuming Flesh, seeing He is not in place, does not change His place. Let us then be touched by Christ standing still, and so our eyes be made whole. But whose eyes? The eyes of those who cry out when He is passing by; that is, who do good works through that faith, which has been dispensed in time, to instruct us in our infancy.

15. Now what thing more precious can we have than the eye made whole? They rejoice who see this created light which shines from heaven, or even that which is given out from a lamp. And how wretched do they seem, who cannot see this light? But wherefore do I speak, and talk of all these things, but to exhort you all to cry out, when Jesus passes by. I hold up this light which perhaps ye do not see as an object of love to you, Holy Brethren. Believe, while as yet ye see not; and cry out that you may see. How great is thought to be the unhappiness of men, who do not see this bodily light? Does any one become blind; immediately it is said; God is angry with him, he has committed some wicked deed. So said Tobias' wife to her husband. He cried out because of the kid, lest it had come of theft; he did not like to hear the sound of any stolen thing in his house; and she, maintaining what she had done, reproached her husband; and when he said, Restore it if it be stolen; she answered insultingly, Where are your righteous deeds? How great was her blindness who maintained the theft; and how clear a light he saw, who commanded the stolen thing to be restored! She rejoiced outwardly in the light of the sun; he inwardly in the light of Righteousness. Which of them was in the better light?

16. It is to the love of this light that I would exhort you, Beloved; that you would cry out by your works, when the Lord passes by; let the voice of faith sound out, that Jesus standing still, that is, the Unchangeable, Abiding Wisdom of God, and the Majesty of the Word of God, by which all things were made, may open your eyes. The same Tobias in giving advice to his son, instructed him to this, to cry out; that is, he instructed him to good works. He told him to give to the poor, charged him to give alms to the needy, and taught him, saying, My son, alms suffers not to come into darkness. The blind gave counsel for receiving and gaining light. Alms, says he, suffers not to come into darkness. Had his son in astonishment answered him, What then, father, have you not given alms, that you now speakest to me in blindness; are you not in darkness, and yet you say to me, Alms suffers not to come into darkness. But no, he knew well what the light was, concerning which he gave his son instruction, he knew well what he saw in the inner man. The son held out his hand to his father, to enable him to walk on earth; and the father to the son, to enable him to dwell in heaven.

17. To be brief; that I may conclude this Sermon, Brethren, with a matter which touches me very nearly, and gives me much pain, see what crowds there are which rebuke the blind as they cry out. But let them not deter you, whosoever among this crowd desire to be healed; for there are many Christians in name, and in works ungodly; let them not deter you from good works. Cry out amid the crowds that are restraining you, and calling you back, and insulting you, whose lives are evil. For not only by their voices, but by evil works, do wicked Christians repress the good. A good Christian has no wish to attend the public shows. In this very thing, that he bridles his desire of going to the theatre, he cries out after Christ, cries out to be healed. Others run together there, but perhaps they are heathens or Jews? Ah! Indeed, if Christians went not to the theatres, there would be so few people there, that they would go away for very shame. So then Christians run there also, bearing the Holy Name only to their condemnation. Cry out then by abstaining from going, by repressing in your heart this worldly concupiscence; hold on with a strong and persevering cry unto the ears of the Saviour, that Jesus may stand still and heal you. Cry out amidst the very crowds, despair not of reaching the ears of the Lord. For the blind men in the Gospel did not cry out in that quarter, where no crowd was, that so they might be heard in that direction, where there was no impediment from persons hindering them. Amidst the very crowds they cried out; and yet the Lord heard them. And so also do ye even amidst sinners, and sensual then, amidst the lovers of the vanities of the world, there cry out that the Lord may heal you. Go not to another quarter to cry out unto the Lord, go not to heretics, and cry out unto Him there. Consider, Brethren, how in that crowd which was hindering them from crying out, even there were they who cried out made whole.

18. For observe this too, Holy Brethren, what it is to persevere in crying out. I will speak of what many as well as myself have experienced in Christ's name; for the Church does not cease to give birth to such as these. When any Christian has begun to live well, to be fervent in good works, and to despise the world; in this newness of his life he is exposed to the animadversions and contradictions of cold Christians. But if he persevere, and get the better of them by his endurance, and faint not in good works; those very same persons who before hindered will now respect him. For they rebuke, and hinder, and withstand him so long as they have any hope that he will yield to them. But if they shall be overcome by their perseverance who make progress, they turn round and begin to say, He is a great man, a holy man, happy he to whom God has given such grace. Now do they honour him, they congratulate and bless and laud him; just as that multitude did which was with the Lord. They first hindered the blind men that they might not cry out; but when they continued to cry so as to attain to be heard, and to obtain the Lord's mercy, that same multitude now says, Jesus calls you. And they who a little before rebuked them that they should hold their peace, use now the voice of exhortation. Now he only is not called by the Lord who is not in labour in this world. But who is there in this life who is not in labour through his sins and iniquities? But if all labour, it is said to all, Come unto Me, all you that labour. Now if this is said to all, why do you ascribe your miscarriage to Him that so invites you? Come. His house is not too narrow for you; the kingdom of God is possessed equally by all, and wholly by each one; it is not diminished by the increasing number of those who possess it, because it is not divided. And that which is possessed by many with one heart, is whole and entire for each one.

19. Yet in the mysterious sense of this passage, Brethren, we recognise what is expressed most plainly in other places of the sacred books, that there are within the Church both good and bad, as I often express it, wheat and chaff. Let no one leave the floor before the time, let him bear with the chaff in the time of threshing, let him bear with it in the floor. For in the barn he will have none of it to bear with. The Winnower will come, who shall divide the bad from the good. There will then be a bodily separation too, which a spiritual separation now precedes. In heart be always separated from the bad, in body be united with them for a time, only with caution. Yet be not negligent in correcting those who belong to you, who in any way appertain to your charge, by admonition, or instruction, by exhortation, or by threats. Do it, in whatsoever way ye can. And because ye find in Scripture and in the examples of Saints, whether of those who lived before or after the coming of the Lord in this life, that the bad do not defile the good in unity with them, do not on this account become slow in the correction of the bad. In two ways the bad will not defile you; if you consent not to him, and if you reprove him; this is, not to communicate with him, not to consent to him. For there is a communication, when an agreement either of the will or of the approbation is joined to his deed. This the Apostle teaches us, when he says, Have no communication with the unfruitful works of darkness. And because it was a small matter not to consent, if negligence in correction accompanied it, he says, But rather reprove them. See how he comprehended both at once, Have no communication, but rather reprove them. What is, Have no communication? Do not consent to them, do not praise them, do not approve them. What is, But rather reprove them? Find fault with, rebuke, repress them.

20. But then in the correction and repressing of other men's sins, one must take heed, that in rebuking another he do not lift up himself; and that sentence of the Apostle must be thought of, Wherefore let him that thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall. Let the voice of chiding sound outwardly in tones of terror, let the spirit of love and gentleness be maintained within. If a man be overtaken in a fault, as the same Apostle says, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so shall you fulfil the law of Christ. And again in another place, The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God perhaps will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are held captive by him at his will. So then be neither consenting to evil, so as to approve of it; nor negligent so as not to reprove it; nor proud so as to reprove it in a tone of insult.

21. But whoever forsakes unity, violates charity; and whosoever violates charity, how great gifts soever he have, he is nothing. If he speak with the tongues of men and of angels; if he knew all mysteries, if he have all faith, so as to remove mountains, if he distribute all his goods to the poor, if he give his body to be burned, and have not charity; it is nothing; it profits him nothing. He possesses all things to no useful end, who has not that one thing by which he may use all these things well. So then let us embrace charity, studying to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Let not those seduce us who understand the Scriptures in a carnal manner, and who in making a bodily separation, are separated themselves by a spiritual sacrilege from the good grain of the Church which is spread over the whole world. For throughout the whole world has the good seed been sown. That good Sower, the Son of Man, has scattered the good seed not in Africa only, but everywhere. But the enemy has sown tares upon it. Yet what says the Householder? Let both grow together until the harvest. Grow where? In the field, of course. What is the field? Is it Africa? No! What is it then? Let us not interpret it ourselves, let the Lord speak; let us not suffer any one to make his guess at his own pleasure. For the disciples said to the Master, Declare unto us the parable of the tares. And the Lord declared it: The good seed, said He, are the children of the Kingdom. But the tares are the children of the wicked one. Who sowed them? The enemy that sowed them, said He, is the devil. What is the field? The field, said He, is this world. What is the harvest? The harvest, said He, is the end of the world. Who are the reapers? The reapers, said He, are the Angels. Is Africa the world? Is this present time the harvest? Is Donatus the reaper? Look then for the harvest throughout the whole world, throughout the whole world grow unto the harvest, throughout the whole world bear with the tares even until the harvest. Let not perverse men seduce you, that chaff so light, which flies out of the floor before the coming of the Winnower; let them not seduce you. Hold them fast even to this single parable of the tares, and suffer them not to speak of anything else. This man, one will say, surrendered the Scriptures; no, not so: but this other man surrendered them. Whosoever it might be who has surrendered them, has their faithlessness made void the faithfulness of God? What is the faithfulness of God? That which He promised to Abraham, saying, In your seed shall all nations be blessed. What is the faithfulness of God? Let both grow together until the harvest. Grow where? Throughout the field. What is throughout the field? Throughout the world.

22. Here they say; It is true both kinds did once grow throughout the world, but the good wheat is diminished, and confined to this our country, and our small communion. But the Lord does not allow you to interpret as you will. He who explains this parable Himself, shuts your mouth, your sacrilegious, profane, and ungodly mouth, that is counter to your own interests, while you run counter to the testator, even as he calls you to the inheritance. How does He shut your mouth? By saying, Let both grow together until the harvest. If the harvest has come already, let us believe that the wheat has been diminished. Though not even then shall it be diminished, but gathered up into the barn. For so He says, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into My barn. If then they grow until the harvest, and after the harvest are gathered in, how are they diminished, you wicked, you ungodly one? I grant that in comparison with the tares and chaff the wheat is less in quantity; still both grow together until the harvest. For when iniquity abounds, the love of many waxes cold; the tares and the chaff multiply. But because throughout the whole world wheat cannot be wanting, which by enduring unto the end shall be saved, both grow together until the harvest. And if because of the abundance of the wicked it is said, When the Son of Man comes, do you think, shall He find faith on the earth? and by this denomination are signified all those who by transgression of the law imitate him to whom it was said, Earth you are, and unto earth shall you return; yet because of the abundance of the good also, and because of him to whom it was said, Your seed shall be as the stars of heaven, and as the sand of the sea; is that also written, Many shall come from the East and West, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, in the kingdom of God. Both then grow together until the harvest, and both the tares or chaff have their passages in the Scriptures, and the wheat theirs. And they who do not understand them, confound them and are themselves confounded; and in their blind desire they make such an uproar, that they will not be silenced even by the clear manifestation of the truth.

23. See, they say, the Prophet says, Depart ye, go out from thence, and touch no unclean thing; how then for peace sake should we bear with the wicked, from whom we are commanded to go out and depart that we touch not the unclean thing? We understand that departure spiritually, they corporally. For I also cry out with the Prophet (for however mean a vessel I am, God makes use of me to minister to you); I also cry out and say to you, Depart ye, go out from thence, and touch not the unclean thing; but with the touch of the heart, not of the body. For what is it to touch the unclean thing, but to consent to sin. And what is it to go out from thence, but to do what appertains to the rebuking of the wicked, as far as can be done, according to each one's grade and condition, with the maintenance of peace? You are displeased at a man's sin, you have not touched the unclean thing. You have reproved, rebuked, admonished him, hast administered, if the case required it, a suitable discipline, and such as does not violate unity; then you have gone out from thence. Now consider the actions of the Saints, lest perhaps this should seem to be an interpretation of my own. As Saints have understood these words, so surely ought they to be understood. Go out from them, says the Prophet. I will first maintain this meaning of the words from their customary use, and will afterwards show that that meaning is not my own. It often happens that men are accused; and when they are accused they defend themselves, and when the accused defends himself with good reason and justice, the hearers say, He has got out of this. Got out; whither has he gone? He abides still in the place where he was, yet has he got out of this. How has he got out of it? By the good account he has rendered, and by his most satisfactory defense. This is what the holy Apostles did when they shook off the dust from their feet against those who did not receive the message of peace which was sent to them. That watchman, got out from thence, to whom it was I said, I have made you a watchman unto the house of Israel. For it was told him If you warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his way, that wicked one shall die in his iniquity, and you shall deliver your soul. This if he do, he goes out from him, not by a bodily separation, but by the defense of his own work. For he did what it was his duty to do; though the other, whose duty it was to obey, obeyed not. This then is that, Go out from thence.

24. So cried Moses and Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Let us see then if they acted thus, if they left the people of God, and betook themselves to other nations. How many and vehement rebukes did Jeremiah utter against the sinners, and wicked ones of his people. Yet he lived among them, he entered into the same temple with them, celebrated the same mysteries; he lived in that congregation of wicked men, but by his crying out he went out from them. This is to go out from them; this is not to touch the unclean thing, the not consenting to them in will, and the not sparing them in word. What shall I say of Jeremiah, of Isaiah, of Daniel, and Ezekiel, and the rest of the prophets, who did not retire from the wicked people, lest they should desert the good who were mingled with that people, among whom themselves were able to be such as they were? When Moses himself, Brethren, was receiving the law in the mount, the people below made an idol. The people of God, the people who had been led through the waves of the Red Sea which gave way to them, and overwhelmed their enemies who followed after, after so many signs and miracles displayed in plagues upon the Egyptians even unto death, and for their protection unto deliverance, yet demanded an idol, obtained an idol by force, made an idol, adored an idol, sacrificed unto an idol. God shows His servant what the people had done, and says that He will destroy them from before His Face. Moses makes intercession for them as he was about to return to this people; yet had he a good opportunity of retiring and going out from them, as these persons understand it, that he might not touch the unclean thing, might not live among them; but he did not so. And that he might not seem to have acted thus from necessity rather than from love, God offered him another people; so that He might destroy these: I will make of you, He said, a great nation. But he did not accept it; he cleaves to the sinners, he prays for the sinners. And how does he pray? O signal proof of love, my Brethren! How does he pray? Mark that, as it were, mother's fondness, of which I have often spoken. When God threatened the sacrilegious people, Moses' tender heart trembled, and on their behalf he opposed himself to the wrath of God. Lord, he says, if You will forgive their sin, forgive; but if not, blot me out of Your book which You have written. With what a father's and mother's fondness, yet with what assurance said he this, as he considered at once the justice and the mercy of God; that in that He is just, He would not destroy the righteous man; and that in that He is merciful, He would pardon the sinners.

25. It is now surely plain to your discernment, in what manner all such testimonies of the Scriptures are to be received; so that when Scripture says, that we must depart from the wicked, we are bid to understand this in no other sense, but that we depart in heart; lest by the separation from the good, we commit a greater evil than we shrink from in the union of the wicked, as these Donatists have done. But if they were truly good, and so had reproved the wicked, and not rather being themselves wicked, had defamed the good, they would for peace sake bear with any, be they who they might, seeing they have received the Maximianists as sound, whom they condemned before as lost. Undoubtedly the Prophet has said plainly, Depart ye, go out from thence, and touch not the unclean thing. But that I may understand what he said, I pay attention to what he did. By his own deeds he explains his words. He said, Depart ye. To whom did he say so? To the righteous of course. From whom did he bid them depart? From sinners and wicked men of course. I ask then, did he depart from such himself? I find that he did not. So then he understood it in another sense. For surely he would be the first to do what he enjoined. He departed from them in heart, he rebuked and reproved them. By keeping himself from consenting to them, he did not touch the unclean thing; but by rebuking them he went out free in the sight of God; and to him God neither imputes his own sins, because he sinned not; nor the sins of others, because he approved them not; nor negligence, because he kept not silence; nor pride, because he continued in unity. So then, my Brethren, how many soever you have among you, who are still weighed down by the love of the world, covetous, or perjured persons, adulterers, spectacle hunters, consulters of astrologers, of fanatics, of soothsayers, of augurs and diviners, drunkards, sensualists, whatever there is of bad that you know you have among you; show your disapprobation of it all as far as you are able, that you may in heart depart; and reprove them, that you may go out from them; and consent not to them, that ye touch not the unclean thing.

Sermon 39 on the New Testament

[LXXXIX. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 21:19 , where Jesus dried up the fig-tree; and on the words, Luke 24:28 , where He made a pretence as though He would go further.

1. The lesson of the Holy Gospel which has just been read, has given us an alarming warning, lest we have leaves only, and have no fruit. That is, in few words, lest words be present and deeds be wanting. Very terrible! Who does not fear when in this lesson he sees with the eyes of the heart the withered tree, withered at that word being spoken to it, Let no fruit grow on you henceforward for ever? Let the fear work amendment, and the amendment bring forth fruit. For without doubt, the Lord Christ foresaw that a certain tree would deservedly become withered, because it would have leaves, and would have no fruit. That tree is the synagogue, not that which was called, but that which was reprobate. For out of it also was called the people of God, who in sincerity and truth waited in the Prophets for the salvation of God, Jesus Christ. And forasmuch as it waited in faith, it was thought worthy to know Him when He was present. For out of it came the Apostles, out of it came the whole multitude of those who went before the ass of the Lord, and said, Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord. There was a great company then of believing Jews, a great company of those who believed in Christ before He shed His Blood for them. For it was not in vain that the Lord Himself had come to none but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But in others, after He was crucified, and was now exalted into heaven, He found the fruit of repentance; and these He did not make to wither, but cultivated them in His field, and watered them with His word. Of this number were those four thousand Jews who believed, after that the disciples and those who were with them, filled with the Holy Ghost, spoke with the tongues of all nations, and in that diversity of tongues announced in a way beforehand, that the Church should be throughout all nations. They believed at that time, and they were the lost sheep of the house of Israel; but because the Son of Man had come to seek and to save that which was lost, He found these also. But they lay hid here and there among thorns, as though wasted and dispersed by the wolves; and because they lay hid among thorns, He did not come to find them, save when torn by the thorns of His Passion; yet come He did, He found, He redeemed them. They had slain, not Him so much, as themselves. They were saved by Him who was slain for them. For, as the Apostles spoke, they were pricked; they were pricked in conscience, who had pricked Him with the spear; and being pricked they sought for counsel, received it when it was given, repented, found grace, and believing drunk that Blood which in their fury they had shed. But they who have remained in this bad and barren race, even unto this day, and shall remain unto the end, were figured in that tree. You come to them at this day, and find with them all the writings of the Prophets. But these are but leaves; Christ is an hungred, and He seeks for fruit; but finds no fruit among them, because He does not find Himself among them. For He has no fruit, who has not Christ. And he has not Christ, who holds not to Christ's unity, who has not charity. And so by this chain he has no fruit who has not charity. Hear the Apostle, Now the fruit of the Spirit is charity; so setting forth the praise of this cluster, that is, of this fruit; The fruit of the Spirit, he says, is charity, joy, peace, long-suffering. Do not wonder at what follows, when charity leads the way.

2. Accordingly, when the disciples marvelled at the withering of the tree, He set forth to them the value of faith, and said to them, If you have faith, and doubt not; that is, if in all things you have trust in God; and do not say, God can do this, this He cannot do; but rely on the omnipotence of the Almighty; you shall not only do this, but also if you shall say to this mountain, Be removed, and be cast into the sea, it shall be done. And all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive. Now we read that miracles were wrought by the disciples, yea rather by the Lord through the disciples; for, without Me, He says, ye can do nothing. The Lord could do many things without the disciples, but the disciples nothing without the Lord. He who could make even the disciples themselves, was not certainly assisted by them to make them. We read then of the Apostles' miracles, but we nowhere read of a tree being withered by them, nor of a mountain removed into the sea. Let us enquire therefore where this was done. For the words of the Lord could not be without effect. If you are thinking of trees and mountains in their ordinary and familiar sense, it has not been done. But if you think of that tree of which He spoke, and of that mountain of the Lord of which the Prophet said, In the last days the mountain of the Lord's house shall be manifest; if you think of it, and understand it thus, it has been done, and done by the Apostles. The tree is the Jewish nation, but I say again, that part of it which was reprobate, not that which was called; that tree which we have spoken of is the Jewish nation. The mountain, as the prophetic testimony has taught us, is the Lord Himself. The withered tree is the Jewish nation reft of the honour of Christ; the sea is this world with all the nations. Now see the Apostles speaking to this tree which was about to be withered away, and casting the mountain into the sea. In the Acts of the Apostles they speak to the Jews who gainsay and resist the word of truth, that is, who have leaves and have no fruit, and they say to them, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing you have put it from you (for you use the words of the Prophets, yet do not acknowledge Him whom the Prophets foretold, that is, you have leaves only), lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For this also was foretold by the Prophets; Behold, I have given You for a light of the Gentiles, that You may be My salvation unto the end of the earth. See then, the tree has withered away; and Christ has been removed unto the Gentiles, the mountain into the sea. For how should not the tree wither away which is planted in that vineyard, of which it was said, I will command my clouds that they rain no rain upon it?

3. Now that in order to convey this truth the Lord acted prophetically, I mean that, as concerning this tree, it was not His will merely to exhibit a miracle, but that by the miracle He conveyed the intimation of something to come, there are many things which teach and persuade us, yea even against our wills force us to believe. In the first place, what fault in the tree was it that it had no fruit, when even if it had no fruit at the proper season, that is, the season of its fruit, it would not assuredly be any fault in the tree; for the tree as being without sense and reason could not be to blame. But to this is added, that as we read it in the narrative of the other Evangelist who expressly mentions this, it was not the time for that fruit. For that was the time when the fig-tree shoots forth its tender leaves, which come, we know, before the fruit; and this we prove, because the day of the Lord's Passion was at hand, and we know at what time He suffered; and if we did not know it, we ought of course to give credit to the Evangelist who says, The time of figs was not yet. So then if it was only a miracle that was to have been set forth, and not something to be prophetically figured, it would have been much more worthy of the clemency and mercy of the Lord, to have made green again any tree He might find withered; as He healed the sick, as He cleansed the lepers, as He raised the dead. But then contrariwise, as though against the ordinary rule of His clemency, He found a green tree, not yet bearing fruit out of its proper season, but still not refusing the hope of fruit to its dresser, and He withered it away; as though He would say to us, I have no delight in the withering away of this tree, but thus I would convey to you, that I have not designed to do this without any cause for it, but only because I desired thereby to convey to you a lesson you might the more regard. It is not this tree that I have cursed, it is not on a tree without sense that I have inflicted punishment, but I have made you fear, whosoever you are that dost consider the matter, that you might not despise Christ when He is an hungered, that you might love rather to be enriched with fruit, than to be overshadowed by leaves.

4. This one thing is that which the Lord intimates that He designed to signify by what He did. What else is there? He comes to the tree being hungry, and seeks fruit. Did He not know that it was not the time for it? What the cultivator of the tree knew, did not its Creator know? He seeks on the tree then for fruit which it had not yet. Does He really seek for it, or rather make a pretence of seeking it? For if He really sought it, He was mistaken. But this be far from Him, to be mistaken! He made then a pretence of seeking it. Fearing to allow this, that he makes a pretence, you confess that He was mistaken. Again, you turn away from the idea of His being mistaken, and so run into that of His making a pretence. We are parched up between the two. If we are parched, let us beg for rain, that we may grow green, lest in saying anything unworthy of the Lord, we rather wither away. The Evangelist indeed says, He came to the tree, and found no fruit on it. He found none, would not be said of Him, unless He had either really sought for it, or made a pretence of seeking, though He knew that there was none there. Wherefore we do not hesitate, let us by no means say that Christ was mistaken. What then? Shall we say He made a pretence? Shall we say this? How shall we get out of this difficulty? Let us say what, if the Evangelist had not said of the Lord in another place, we should not of ourselves dare to say. Let us say what the Evangelist has written, and when we have said, let us understand it. But in order that we may understand it, let us first believe. For, unless ye believe, says the Prophet, you shall not understand. The Lord Christ after His Resurrection, was walking in the way with two of His disciples, by whom He was not yet recognised, and with whom He joined company as a third traveller. They came to the place whither they were going, and the Evangelist says, But He made a pretence as though He would have gone further. But they kept Him, saying, in the spirit of a courteous kindness, that it was already drawing toward evening, and praying Him to tarry there with them; being received and entertained by them, He breaks Bread, and is known of them in blessing and breaking of the Bread. So then, let us not now fear to say, that He made a pretence of seeking, if He made a pretence of going further. But here there arises another question. Yesterday I insisted at some length on the truth which is in the Apostles; how then do we find any pretence in the Lord Himself? Therefore, Brethren, I must tell you, and teach you according to my poor abilities, which the Lord gives me for your benefit, and must convey to you what ye may hold as a rule in the interpretation of all Scripture. Everything that is said or done is to be understood either in its literal signification, or else it signifies something figuratively; or at least contains both of these at once, both its own literal interpretation, and a figurative signification also. Thus I have set forth three things, examples of them must now be given; and from whence, but from the Holy Scriptures? It is said in its literal acceptation, that the Lord suffered, that He rose again, and ascended into heaven; that we shall rise again at the end of the world, that we shall reign with Him for ever, if we do not despise Him. Take all this as spoken literally, and look not out for figures; as it is expressed, so it really is. And so also with various actions. The Apostle went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, the Apostle actually did this, it actually took place, it was an action peculiar to himself. It is a fact which he tells you; a simple fact according to its literal meaning. The stone which the builders refused, has become the Head of the corner, is spoken in a figure. If we take the stone literally, what stone did the builders refuse, which became the Head of the corner? If we take the stone literally, of what corner is this stone become the Head? If we admit that it was figuratively expressed, and take it figuratively, the Cornerstone is Christ: the head of the corner, is the Head of the Church. Why is the Church the Corner? Because she has called the Jews from one side, and the Gentiles from another, and these two walls as it were coming from different quarters, and meeting together in one, she has bound together by the grace of her peace. For, He is our peace, who has made both one.

5. You have heard instances of a literal expression, and a literal action, and of a figurative expression; you are waiting for an instance of a figurative action. There are many such, but meanwhile, as is suggested by this mention of the corner-stone, when Jacob anointed the stone which he had placed at his head as he slept, and in his sleep saw a mysterious dream, ladders rising from the earth to heaven, and Angels ascending and descending, and the Lord standing upon the ladder, he understood what it was designed to figure, and took the stone for a figure of Christ, to prove to us thereby that he was no stranger to the understanding of that vision and revelation. Do not wonder then that he anointed it, for Christ received His Name from the anointing. Now this Jacob was said in the Scripture to be a man without guile. And this Jacob ye know was called Israel. Accordingly in the Gospel, when the Lord saw Nathanael, He said, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. And that Israelite not yet knowing who it was that talked with him, answered, Whence knew Thou me? And the Lord said to him, When you were under the fig-tree I saw you; as though he would say, When you were in the shadow of sin, I predestinated you. And Nathanael, because he remembered that he had been under the fig-tree, where the Lord was not, acknowledged His Divinity, and answered, You are the Son of God, You are the King of Israel. He who had been under the fig-tree was not made a withered fig-tree; he acknowledged Christ. And the Lord said to him, Because I said, When you were under the fig-tree I saw you, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these. What are these greater things? Verily I say unto you (for he is an Israelite in whom is no guile; remember Jacob in whom was no guile; and recollect of what he is speaking, the stone at his head, the vision in his sleep, the ladder from earth to heaven, the Angels ascending and descending; and so see what it is that the Lord would say to the Israelite without guile); Verily I say unto you, You shall see heaven opened (hear, you guileless Nathanael, what guileless Jacob saw); you shall see heaven opened, and Angels ascending and descending (unto whom?) unto the Son of Man. Therefore was He, as the Son of Man, anointed on the head; for the head of the woman is the man, and the Head of the man is Christ. Now observe, He did not say, ascending from the Son of Man, and descending to the Son of Man, as if He were only above; but ascending and descending unto the Son of Man. Hear the Son of Man crying out from above, Saul, Saul. Hear the Son of Man from below, Why do you persecute Me?

6. You have heard an instance of a literal expression, as that we shall rise again; of a literal action, as that, according as it is said, Paul went up to Jerusalem to see Peter. The stone which the builders refused, is a figurative expression; the anointed stone which was at Jacob's head, is a figurative action. There is now due to your expectation an example made out of both together, something which is at once a literal fact, and which also signifies something else figured by it. We know that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a free-woman; this was literally a fact, not only a story, but a fact; are you looking for that which was figured in it? These are the two Testaments. That then which is spoken figuratively, is a sort of fiction. But since it has some real event represented by it, and the very figure itself has its ground of truth, it escapes all imputation of falsehood. The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell by the way side, some fell upon stony places, some fell among thorns, and some fell upon good ground. Who went out to sow, or when went he out, or upon what thorns, or stones or way side or in what field did he sow? If we receive this as a fictitious story, we understand it in a figurative sense; it is fictitious. For if any sower really went out, and did cast the seed in these different places, as we have heard, it were no fiction, and so no falsehood. But now though it be a fiction, yet it is no falsehood. Why? Because the fiction has some further signification, it deceives you not. It requires only one to understand it, and does not lead any one into error. And thus Christ wishing to convey this lesson to us, sought for fruit, and hereby set forth to us a figurative, and no deceiving fiction; a fiction therefore worthy of praise, not of blame; not one by the examination of which we might run into what was false; but by the diligent investigation of which we might discover what is true.

7. I see that one may say, Explain to me; what did that signify, that He made a pretence of going further? For if it had no further meaning, it is a deceit, a lie. We must then according to our rules of exposition, and distinctions, tell you what this pretence of going further, signified; He made a pretence of going further, and is kept back from going further. In so far then as the Lord Christ being as they supposed absent in respect of His Bodily presence, was thought to be really absent, He will as it were go further. But hold Him fast by faith, hold Him fast at the breaking of Bread. What shall I say more? Have ye recognised Him? If so, then have ye found Christ. I must not speak any longer on this Sacrament. They who put off the knowledge of this Sacrament, Christ goes further from them. Let them then hold It fast, let them not let Him go; let them invite Him to their home, and so they are invited to heaven.

Sermon 40 on the New Testament

[XC. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 22:2 , etc., about the marriage of the king's son; against the Donatists, on charity. Delivered at Carthage in the Restituta.

1. All the faithful know the marriage of the king's son, and his feast, and the spreading of the Lord's Table is open to them all who will. But it is of importance to each one to see how he approaches, even when he is not forbidden to approach It. For the Holy Scriptures teach us that there are two feasts of the Lord; one to which the good and evil come, the other to which the evil come not. So then the feast, of which we have just now heard when the Gospel was being read, has both good and evil guests. All who excused themselves from this feast are evil; but not all those who entered in are good. You therefore who are the good guests at this feast do I address, who have in your minds the words, He that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks judgment to himself. All you who are such do I address, that you look not for the good without, that you bear with the evil within.

2. I do not doubt that you wish to hear, Beloved, who they are of whom I have spoken in my address, that they should not look for the good without, and should bear with the evil within. If all within are evil, whom do I address? If all within are good, whom did I advise them to bear with being evil? Let me first then with the Lord's assistance get out of this difficulty as best I can. If you consider good perfectly and strictly speaking, none is good but God Alone. You have the Lord saying most plainly, Why do you call Me good? There is none Good but One, that is, God. How then can that marriage feast have good and bad guests, if none is good but God Alone? In the first place ye ought to know, that after a certain sort we are all evil. Yes, doubtless after a certain sort are we all evil; but after no sort are we all good. For can we compare ourselves with the Apostles, to whom the Lord Himself said, If you then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children? If we consider the Scriptures, there was but one evil one among the twelve Apostles, with reference to whom the Lord said in a certain place, And you are clean, but not all. But yet in addressing them all together, He said, If you being evil. Peter heard this, John heard this, Andrew heard this, all the rest of the eleven Apostles heard it. What did they hear? If you being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him? When they heard that they were evil, they were in despair; but when they heard that God in heaven was their Father, they revived. You being evil; what then is due to the evil, but punishment? How much more shall your Father which is in heaven? What is due to children but reward. In the name of evil is the dread of punishment; in the name of children is the hope of heirs.

3. According to a certain respect then they were evil, who after another respect were good. For to them to whom it is said, You being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children; is added immediately, How much more shall your Father which is in heaven? He is then the Father of the evil, but not of those who are to be left so; because He is the Physician of them who are to be cured. According to a certain sort then they were evil. And yet those guests of the Householder at the King's marriage, were not I suppose of that number of whom it was said, they invited good and bad, that they should be reckoned among the number of the bad, who we have heard were shut out in his person who was found not to have a wedding garment. According to a certain respect, I repeat they were bad, who yet were good; and according to a certain respect they were good, who yet were bad. Hear John according to what respect they were bad: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Behold after what respect they were bad: because they had sin. According to what respect were they good? If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If then we should say, on the principle of this interpretation which you have now heard me bring, as I think, out of the sacred Scriptures, viz. that the same men are both after a certain manner, good, and after a certain manner bad; if we should wish to receive according to this sense the words, they invited good and bad, the same persons, that is, at once good and bad; if we should wish so to receive them, we are not permitted so to do, by reason of that one who was found not having a wedding garment, and who was not merely cast forth, so as to be deprived of that feast, but so as to be condemned in the punishment of everlasting darkness.

4. But one will say, What of one man? What strange, what great matter is it, if one among the crowd not having a wedding garment crept in unperceived to the servants of the Householder? Could it be said because of that one, they invited good and bad? Attend therefore, my Brethren, and understand. That one man represented one class; for they were many. Here some diligent hearer may answer me, and say, I have no wish for you to tell me your guesses; I wish to have it proved to me that that one represented many. By the Lord's present help, I will prove it clearly; nor will I search far, that I may be able to prove it. God will assist me in His own words in this place, and will furnish you by my ministry with a plain proof of it. The Master of the house came in to see the guests. See, my Brethren, the servants' business was only to invite and bring in the good and bad; see that it is not said, that the servants took notice of the guests, and found among them a man which had not on a wedding garment, and spoke to him. This is not written. The Master of the house saw him, the Master of the house discovered, the Master of the house inspected, the Master of the house separated him out. It was not right to pass over this. But I have undertaken to establish another point, how that that one signifies many. The Master of the house then came in to see the guests, and He found there a man which had not on a wedding garment. And He says unto him, Friend, how did you come in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. For He who questioned him was One, to whom he could give no feigned reply. The garment that was looked for is in the heart, not on the body; for had it been put on externally, it could not have been concealed even from the servants. Where that wedding garment must be put on, hear in the words, Let your priests be clothed with righteousness. Of that garment the Apostle speaks, If so be that we shall be found clothed, and not naked. Therefore was he discovered by the Lord, who escaped the notice of the servants. Being questioned, he is speechless: he is bound, cast out, and condemned one by many. I have said, Lord, that Thou teachest us that in this Thou dost give warning to all. Recollect then with me, my Brethren, the words which you have heard, and you will at once discover, at once determine, that that one was many. True it was one man whom the Lord questioned, to one He said, Friend, how did you come in hither? It was one who was speechless, and of that same one was it said, Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Why? For many are called, but few chosen. How can any one gainsay this manifestation of the truth? Cast him, He says, into outer darkness. Him, that one man assuredly, of whom the Lord says, for many are called, but few chosen. So then it is the few who are not cast out. He was it is true but one man who had not the wedding garment. Cast him out. But why is he cast out? For many are called, but few chosen. Leave alone the few, cast out the many. It is true, that man was but one. Yet undoubtedly that one not only was many, but those many in numbers far surpassed the number of the good. For the good are many also; but in comparison of the bad, they are few. In the crop there is much wheat; compare it with the chaff, and the grains of grain are few. The same persons considered in themselves are many, in comparison with the bad are few. How do we prove that in themselves they are many? Many shall come from the East and from the West. Whither shall they come? To that feast, into which both good and bad enter. But speaking of another feast, He subjoined, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. That is the feast to which the bad shall not approach. Be that feast which now is, received worthily, that we may attain to the other. The same then are many, who are also few; in themselves many; in comparison with the bad few. Therefore what says the Lord? He found one, and said, Let the many be cast out, the few remain. For to say, many are called, but few chosen, is nothing else than to show plainly who in this present feast are accounted to be such, as to be brought to that other feast, where no bad men shall come.

5. What is it then? I would not that you all who approach the Lord's Table which is in this life, should be with the many who are to be shut out, but with the few who are to be reserved. And how shall you be able to attain to this? Take the wedding garment. You will say, Explain this 'wedding garment' to us. Without a doubt, that is the garment which none but the good have, who are to be left at the feast, reserved unto that other feast to which no bad man approaches, who are to be brought safely there by the grace of the Lord; these have the wedding garment. Let us then, my Brethren, seek for those among the faithful who have something which bad men have not, and this will be the wedding garment. If we speak of sacraments, you see how that these are common to the bad and good. Is it Baptism? Without Baptism it is true no one attains to God; but not every one that has Baptism attains to Him. I cannot therefore understand Baptism, the Sacrament itself that is, to be the wedding garment; for this garment I see in the good, I see in the bad. Peradventure it is the Altar, or That which is received at the Altar. But no; we see that many eat, and eat and drink judgment to themselves. What is it then? Is it fasting? The wicked fast also. Is it running together to the Church? The wicked run there also. Lastly, is it miracles? Not only do the good and bad perform them, but sometimes the good perform them not. See, among the ancient people Pharaoh's magicians wrought miracles, the Israelites did not; among the Israelites, Moses only and Aaron wrought them; the rest did not, but saw, and feared, and believed. Were the magicians of Pharaoh who did miracles, better men than the people of Israel who could not do them, and yet that people were the people of God. In the Church itself, hear the Apostle, Are all prophets? Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues?

6. What is that wedding garment then? This is the wedding garment: Now the end of the commandment, says the Apostle, is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned. This is the wedding garment. Not charity of any kind whatever; for very often they who are partakers together of an evil conscience seem to love one another. They who commit robberies together, who love the hurtful arts of sorceries, and the stage together, who join together in the shout of the chariot race, or the wild beast fight; these very often love one another; but in these there is no charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned. The wedding garment is such charity as this. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of Angels, and have not charity, I have become as sounding brass, and a tinkling cymbal. Tongues have come in alone, and it is said to them, How came ye in hither not having a wedding garment? Though, said he, I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. See, these are the miracles of men who very often have not the wedding garment. Though, he says, I have all these, and have not Christ, I am nothing. Is then the gift of prophecy nothing? Is then the knowledge of mysteries nothing? It is not that these are nothing; but I, if I have them, and have not charity, am nothing. How many good things profit nothing without this one good thing! If then I have not charity, though I bestow alms freely upon the poor, though I have come to the confession of Christ's Name even unto blood and fire, these things may be done even through the love of glory, and so are vain. Because then they may be done even from the love of glory, and so be vain, and not through the rich charity of a godly affection, he names them all also in express terms, and you give ear to them; though I distribute all my goods for the use of the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profits me nothing. This then is the wedding garment. Question yourselves; if you have it, you may be without fear in the Feast of the Lord. In one and the same man there exist two things, charity and desire. Let charity be born in you, if it be yet unborn, and if it be born, be it nourished, fostered, increased. But as to that desire, though in this life it cannot be utterly extinguished; for if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us; but in so far as desire is in us, so far we are not without sin: let charity increase, desire decrease; that the one, that is, charity, may one day be perfected, and desire be consumed. Put on the wedding garment: you I address, who as yet have it not. You are already within, already do ye approach to the Feast, and still have ye not yet the garment to do honour to the Bridegroom; You are yet seeking your own things, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. For the wedding garment is taken in honour of the union, the union, that is, of the Bridegroom to the Bride. You know the Bridegroom; it is Christ. You know the Bride; it is the Church. Pay honour to the Bride, pay honour to the Bridegroom. If you pay due honour to them both, you will be their children. Therefore in this make progress. Love the Lord, and so learn to love yourselves; that when by loving the Lord you shall have loved yourselves, you may securely love your neighbour as yourselves. For when I find a man that does not love himself, how shall I commit his neighbour whom he should love as himself to him? And who is there, you will say, who does not love himself? Who is there? See, He that loves iniquity hates his own soul. Does he love himself, who loves his body, and hates his soul to his own hurt, to the hurt of both his body and soul? And who loves his own soul? He that loves God with all his heart and with all his mind. To such an one I would at once entrust his neighbour. Love your neighbour as yourselves.

7. One may say, Who is my neighbour? Every man is your neighbour. Had we not all the same two parents? Animals of every species are neighbours one to the other, the dove to the dove, the leopard to the leopard, the asp to the asp, the sheep to the sheep, and is not man neighbour to man? Call to mind the ordering of the creation. God spoke, the waters brought forth swimming creatures, great whales, fish, birds, and such like things. Did all the birds come of one bird? Did all vultures come of one vulture? Did all doves come of one dove? Did all snakes come of one snake? Or all gilt-heads of one gilt-head? or all sheep of one sheep? No, the earth assuredly brought forth all these kinds together. But when it came to man, the earth did not bring forth man. One father was made for us; not even two, father and mother: one father, I say, was made for us, not even two, father and mother; but out of the one father came the one mother; the one father came from none, but was made by God, and the one mother came out of him. Mark then the nature of our race: we flowed out of one fountain; and because that one was turned to bitterness, we all became from a good, a wild olive tree. And so grace came also. One begot us unto sin and death, yet as one race, yet as neighbours one to another, yet as not merely like, but related to each other. There came One against one; against the one who scattered, One who gathers. Thus against the one who slays, is the One who makes alive. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Now as whosoever is born of the first, dies; so whosoever believes in Christ is made alive. Provided, that is, that he have the wedding garment, and be invited as one who is to remain, and not to be cast out.

8. So then, my Brethren, have charity. I have explained it to be this garment, this wedding garment. Faith is praised, it is plain, it is praised: but what kind of faith this is, the Apostle distinguishes. For certain who boasted of faith, and had not a good conversation, the Apostle James rebukes and says, You believe there is one God, you do well; the devils also believe and tremble. Call to mind with me whereupon Peter was praised, whereupon called blessed. Was it because he said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God? He who pronounced Him blessed, regarded not the sound of the words, but the affection of the heart. For would ye know that Peter's blessedness lay not in these words? The devils also said the same. We know You who You are, the Son of God. Peter confessed Him to be the Son of God; the devils confessed Him to be the Son of God. Distinguish, my lord, distinguish between the two. I do make a plain distinction. Peter spoke in love, the devils from fear. And again Peter says, I am with You, even unto death. The devils say, What have we to do with You? So then you who have come to the feast, glory not of faith only. Distinguish well the nature of this faith; and then in you is recognised the wedding garment. Let the Apostle make the distinction, let him teach us; neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith. Tell us, what faith? Do not even the devils believe and tremble? I will tell you, he says, and listen, I will now draw the distinction, But faith which works by love. What faith, then, and of what kind? That which works by love. Though I have all knowledge, he says, and all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. Have faith with love; for love without faith ye cannot have. This I warn, this I exhort, this in the name of the Lord I teach you, Beloved, that you have faith with love; for you may possibly have faith without love. I do not exhort you to have faith, but love. For you cannot have love without faith; the love I mean of God and your neighbour; whence can it come without faith? How does he love God, who does not believe in God? How does the fool love God, who says in his heart, there is no God? Possible it is that you may believe that Christ has come and not love Christ. But it is not possible that you should love Christ, and yet say that Christ has not come.

9. So then, have faith with love. This is the wedding garment. You who love Christ, love one another, love your friends, love your enemies. Let not this be hard to you. What then do ye lose thereby, when you gain so much? What? Do you ask of God as some great favour, that your enemy may die? This is not the wedding garment. Turn your thoughts to the Bridegroom Himself hanging upon the Cross for you, and praying to His Father for His enemies; Father, says He, forgive them, for they know not what they do. You have seen the Bridegroom speaking thus; see too the friend of the Bridegroom, a with the wedding garment. Look at the blessed Stephen, how he rebukes the Jews as though in rage and resentment, You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you have resisted the Holy Ghost. Which of the Prophets have not your fathers killed? You have heard how severe he is with his tongue. And at once you are prepared to speak against any one; and I would it were against him who offends God, and not who offends you. One offends God, and you do not rebuke him; he offends you, and you cry out; where is that wedding garment? You have heard therefore how Stephen was severe; now hear how he loved. He offended those whom he was rebuking, and was stoned by them. And as he was being overwhelmed and bruised to death by the hands of his furious persecutors on every side, and the blows of the stones, he first said, Lord Jesus Christ, receive my spirit. Then after he had prayed for himself standing, he bent the knee for them who were stoning him, and said, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge; let me die in my body, but let not these die in their souls. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. After these words he added no more; he spoke them and departed; his last prayer was for his enemies. Learn ye hereby to have the wedding garment. So do you too bend the knee, and beat your forehead against the ground, and as you are about to approach the Table of the Lord, the Feast of the Holy Scriptures, do not say, O that mine enemy might die! Lord, if I have deserved ought of You, slay mine enemy. Because if so be that you say so, do you not fear lest He should answer you, If I should choose to slay your enemy, I should first slay you. What! Do you glory because you have now come invited hither? Think only what you were but a little while ago. Have you not blasphemed Me? Have you not derided Me? Did you not wish to wipe out My Name from off the earth? Yet now you applaud yourself because you have come invited hither! If I had slain you when you were Mine enemy, how could I have made you My friend? Why, by your wicked prayers do you teach Me to do, what I did not in your own case? Yea rather God says to you, Let me teach you to imitate Me. When I was hanging on the Cross, I said, 'Forgive them, for they know not what they do.' This lesson I taught My brave soldier. Be My recruit against the devil. In no other way will you fight at all unconquerably, unless you pray for your enemies. Yet by all means ask this, yea ask this very thing, ask that you may persecute your enemy; but ask it with discernment; distinguish well what you ask. See, a man is your enemy; answer me, what is it in him which is at enmity with you? Is it in this, that he is a man, that he is at enmity with you? No. What then? That he is evil. In that he is a man, in that he is that I made him, he is not at enmity with you. He says to you, I did not make man evil; he became evil by disobedience, who obeyed the devil rather than God. What he has made himself, is at enmity with you; in that he is evil, he is your enemy; not in that he is a man. For I hear the word man, and evil; the one is the name of nature, the other of sin; the sin I cure; and the nature I preserve. And so your God says to you, See, I do avenge you, I do slay your enemy; I take away that which makes him evil, I preserve that which constitutes him a man: now if I shall have made him a good man, have I not slain your enemy, and made him your friend? So ask on what you are asking, not that the men may perish, but that these their enmities may perish. For if you pray for this, that the man may die; it is the prayer of one wicked man against another; and when you say, Slay the wicked one, God answers you, Which of you?

10. Extend your love then, and limit it not to your wives and children. Such love is found even in beasts and sparrows. You know the sparrows and the swallows how they love their mates, how together they hatch their eggs, and nourish their young together, by a sort of free and natural kindliness, and with no thought of a return. For the sparrow does not say, I will nourish my young, that when I am grown old, they may feed me. He has no such thought; he loves and feeds them, for the love of them; displays the affection of a parent, and looks for no return. And so, I know, I am sure, do ye love your children. For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. Yea upon this plea it is that many of you excuse your covetousness, that you are getting for your children, and are laying by for them. But I say, extend your love, let this love grow; for to love wives and children, is not yet that wedding garment. Have faith to Godward. First love God. Extend yourselves out to God; and whomsoever you shall be able, draw on to God. There is your enemy: let him be drawn to God. There is a son, a wife, a servant; let them be all drawn to God. There is a stranger; let him be drawn to God. There is an enemy; let him be drawn to God. Draw, draw on your enemy; by drawing him on he shall cease to be your enemy. So let charity be advanced, so be it nourished, that being nourished it may be perfected; so be the wedding garment put on; so be the image of God, after which we were created, by this our advancing, engraven anew in us. For by sin was it bruised, and worn away. How is it bruised? How worn away? When it is rubbed against the earth? And what is, When it is rubbed against the earth? When it is worn by earthly lusts. For though man walks in this image, yet is he disquieted in vain. Truth is looked for in God's image, not vanity. By the love of the truth then be that image, after which we were created, engraven anew, and His Own tribute rendered to our Cæsar. For so you have heard from the Lord's answer, when the Jews tempted Him, as He said, Why do you tempt Me, you hypocrites; show Me the tribute money, that is, the impress and superscription of the image. Show me what ye pay, what ye get ready, what is exacted of you. And they showed Him a denarius; and He asked whose image and superscription it had. They answered, Cæsar's. So Cæsar looks for his own image. It is not Cæsar's will that what he ordered to be made should be lost to him, and it is not surely God's will that what He has made should be lost to Him. Cæsar, my Brethren, did not make the money; the masters of the mint make it; the workmen have their orders, he issues his commands to his ministers. His image was stamped upon the money; on the money was Cæsar's image. And yet he requires what others have stamped; he puts it in his treasures; he will not have it refused him. Christ's coin is man. In him is Christ's image, in him Christ's Name, Christ's gifts, Christ's rules of duty.

Sermon 41 on the New Testament

[XCI. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 22:42 , where the Lord asks the Jews whose son they said David was.

1. When the Jews were asked (as we have just now heard out of the Gospel when it was being read), how our Lord Jesus Christ, whom David himself called his Lord was David's Son, they were not able to answer. For what they saw in the Lord, that they knew. For He appeared to them as the Son of man; but as the Son of God He was hidden. Hence it was, that they believed that He could be overcome, and that they derided Him as He hung upon the Tree, saying, If He be the Son of God, let Him come down from the Cross, and we will believe in Him. They saw one part of what He was, they knew not the other, For had they known Him, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Yet they knew that the Christ was to be the Son of David. For even now they hope that He will come. They know not that He has come already, but this their ignorance is voluntary. For even if they did not acknowledge Him on the tree, they ought not to have failed to acknowledge Him on His Throne. For in whose Name are all nations called and blessed, but in His whom they think not to have been the Christ? For this Son of David, that is, of the seed of David according to the flesh, is the Son of Abraham. Now if it was said to Abraham, In your seed shall all nations be blessed; and they see now that in our Christ are all nations blessed, why wait they for what is already come, and fear not that which is yet to come? For our Lord Jesus Christ, making use of a prophetic testimony to assert His authority, called Himself the Stone. Yea such a stone, that whosoever shall stumble against it shall be shaken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder. For when this stone is stumbled against, it lies low; by lying low, it shakes him that stumbles against it; being lifted on high, by its coming down it grinds the proud to powder. Already therefore are the Jews shaken by that stumbling; it yet remains that by His Glorious Advent they should be ground to powder also, unless perhaps while they are yet alive, they acknowledge Him that they die not. For God is patient, and invites them day by day to the Faith.

2. But when the Jews could not answer the Lord proposing a question, and asking whose Son they said Christ was; and they answered, the Son of David; He goes on with the further question put to them, How then does David in spirit call Him Lord, saying, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on My right hand till I make Your enemies My footstool. If David then, He says, in spirit call Him Lord, how is He his Son? He did not say, He is not his Son, but how is He his son? When he says How, it is a word not of negation, but of enquiry; as though He should say to them, You say well indeed that Christ is David's Son, but David himself does call Him Lord; whom he then calls Lord, how is He his Son? Had the Jews been instructed in the Christian faith, which we hold; had they not closed their hearts against the Gospel, had they wished to have spiritual life in them, they would, as instructed in the faith of the Church, have made answer to this question and said, Because in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God: see how He is David's Lord. But because The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; see how He is David's Son. But as being ignorant, they were silent, nor when they shut their mouths did they open their ears, that what they could not answer when questioned, they might after instruction know.

3. But seeing that is a great thing to know the mystery how He is David's Son and David's Lord: how one Person is both Man and God; how in the form of Man He is less than the Father, in the form of God equal with the Father; how again He says, on the one hand, The Father is greater than I; and on the other, I and My Father are one; seeing this is a great mystery, our conduct must be fashioned, that it may be comprehended. For to the unworthy is it closed up, it is opened to those who are meet for it. It is not with stones, or clubs, or the fist, or the heel, that we knock unto the Lord. It is the life which knocks, it is to the life that it is opened. The seeking is with the heart, the asking is with the heart, the knocking is with the heart, the opening is to the heart. Now that heart which asks rightly, and knocks and seeks rightly, must be godly. Must first love God for His Own sake (for this is godliness); and not propose to itself any reward which it looks for from Him other than God Himself. For than Him is there nothing better. And what precious thing can he ask of God, in whose sight God Himself is lightly esteemed? He gives earth, and you rejoice, you lover of the earth, who art yourself become earth. If when He gives earthly goods, you rejoice, how much more ought you to rejoice when He gives you Himself, who made heaven and earth? So then God must be loved for His own sake. For the Devil not knowing what was passing in the heart of holy Job, brought this as a great charge against him, saying, Does Job worship God for His Own sake.

4. So then if the adversary brought this charge, we ought to fear lest it be brought against us. For with a very slanderous accuser have we to deal. If he seek to invent what is not, how much more will he seek to object what really is. Nevertheless let us rejoice, that ours is such a Judge, as cannot be deceived by our accuser. For if we had a man for our judge, the enemy might invent for him what he would. For none is more subtle in invention than the devil. For he it is who at this time also invents all false accusations against the saints. He knows his accusations can have no avail with God, and so He scatters them among men. Yet what does this profit him, seeing the Apostle says, Our glorying is this, the testimony of our conscience? Yet think ye that he does not invent these false charges with anything of subtlety? Yes, well he knows what evil he shall work thereby, if the watchfulness of faith resist him not. For for this reason scatters he his evil charges against the good, that the weak may think that there are no good, and so may give themselves up to be hurried along, and made a prey of by their lusts, while they say within themselves, For who is there that keeps the commandments of God, or who is there that preserves chastity? and while he thinks that no one does, he himself becomes that no one. This then is the devil's art. But such a man was Job, that he could not invent any such charge against him; for his life was too well known and manifest. But because he had great riches, he brought that against him, which if it had any existence, might lie in the heart, and not appear in the conduct. He worshipped God, he gave alms; and with what heart he did this none knew, no not the Devil himself; but God had known. God gives His testimony to His own servant; the Devil calumniates the servant of God. He is allowed to be tried, Job is proved, the Devil is confounded. Job is found to worship God for His Own sake, to love Him for His Own sake; not because He gave him ought, but because He did not take away Himself. For he said, The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it seemed good to the Lord, so is it done, blessed be the Name of the Lord. The fire of temptation approached him; but it found him gold, not stubble; it cleared away the dross from it, but did not reduce it to ashes.

5. Because then, in order to understand the mystery of God, how Christ is both man and God, the heart must be cleansed: and it is cleansed by a good conversation, by a pure life, by chastity, and sanctity, and love, and by faith, which works by love (now all this that I am speaking of, is, as it were, the tree which has its root in the heart; for it is only from the root of the heart that actions proceed; in which if you plant desire, thorns spring forth; if you plant charity, good fruit): the Lord, after that question which He had proposed to the Jews, when they were not able to answer it, immediately went on to speak of good actions, that He might show why they were unworthy to understand what He asked them. For when those proud and wretched men were not able to answer, they ought of course to have said, we do not know; Master, tell us. But no: they were speechless at the proposing of the question, and they opened not their mouth to seek instruction. And so the Lord in reference to their pride said immediately, Beware of the Scribes which love the chief seats in the synagogues, and the first rooms at feasts. Not because they hold them, but because they love them. For in these words he accused their heart. Now none can accuse the heart, but He who can inspect it. For meet it is that to the servant of God, who holds some post of honour in the Church, the first place should be assigned; because if it were not given him, it were evil for him who refuses to give it; but yet it is no good to him to whom it is given. It is meet and right then that in the congregation of Christians their Prelates should sit in eminent place, that by their very seat they may be distinguished, and that their office may be duly marked; yet not so that they should be puffed up for their seat; but that they should esteem it a burden, for which they are to render an account. But who knows whether they love this, or do not love it? This is a matter of the heart, it can have no other judge but God. Now the Lord Himself warned His disciples, that they should not fall into this leaven; as He calls it in another place, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And when they supposed that He said this to them because they had brought no bread; He answered them, Have ye forgotten how many thousands were filled with the five loaves? Then understood they, it is said, that He called their doctrine leaven. For these present temporal good things they loved, but they neither feared the evil things eternal, nor loved the good things eternal. And so their hearts being closed, they could not understand what the Lord asked them.

6. But what then has the Church of God to do, that it may be able to understand what it has first obtained grace to believe? It must make the mind capacious for receiving what shall be given it. And that this may be done, that the mind, that is, may be capacious, our Lord God suspends His promises, He has not taken them away. Therefore does He suspend them, that we may stretch out ourselves; and therefore do we stretch ourselves out, that we may grow; and therefore do we grow, that we may reach them. Behold the Apostle Paul stretching himself out unto these suspended promises: Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do; forgetting those things which are behind, and stretching forth unto those things which are before, I press earnestly toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. He was running on the earth; the prize hung suspended from heaven. He ran then on the earth; but in spirit he ascended. Behold him thus stretching himself out, behold him hanging forth after the suspended prize. I press on, he says, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

7. We must journey on then, yet for this no need of anointing the feet, or looking out for beasts, or providing a vessel. Run with the heart's affection, journey on with love, ascend by charity. Why do you seek for the way? Cleave unto Christ, who by Descending and Ascending has made Himself the Way. Do you wish to ascend? Hold fast to Him that ascends. For by your own self you can not rise. For no man has ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven. If no one ascends but He that descended, that is, the Son of Man, our Lord Jesus, do you wish to ascend also? Be then a member of Him who Only has ascended. For He the Head, with all the members, is but One Man. And since no one can ascend, but he who in His Body is made a member of Him; that is fulfilled, that no man has ascended, but He that descended. For you can not say, Lo, why has Peter, for instance, ascended, why has Paul ascended, why have the Apostles ascended, if no one has ascended, but He that descended? The answer to this is, What do Peter, and Paul, and the rest of the Apostles, and all the faithful, what do they hear from the Apostle? 'Now you are the Body of Christ, and members in particular.' If then the Body of Christ and His members belong to One, do not make two of them. For He left 'father and mother, and clave to his wife, that two might be one flesh.' He left His Father, in that here He did not show Himself as equal with the Father; but 'emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant.' He left His mother also, the synagogue of which He was born after the flesh. He clave to His Wife, that is, to His Church. Now in the place where Christ Himself brought forward this testimony, He showed that the marriage bond might not be dissolved: 'Have ye not read,' said He, 'that God which made them at the beginning, made them male and female; and said, They two shall be in one flesh? What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.' And what is the meaning of 'They two shall be in one flesh'? He goes on to say; 'Wherefore they are no more two but one flesh.' Thus 'no man has ascended, but He that descended.'

8. For that you may know, that the Bridegroom and the Bride are One according to the Flesh of Christ, not according to His Divinity (for according to His Divinity we cannot be what He is; seeing that He is the Creator, we the creature; He the Maker, we His work; He the Framer, we framed by Him; but in order that we might be one with Him in Him, He vouchsafed to be our Head, by taking of us flesh wherein to die for us); that you may know then that this whole is One Christ, He said by Isaiah, He has bound a mitre on me as a bridegroom, and clothed me with ornaments as a bride. He is then at once the Bridegroom and the Bride. That is, the Bridegroom in Himself as the Head, the Bride in the body. For they two, says He, shall be in one flesh; so now they are no more two, but one flesh.

9. Seeing then that we are of His members, in order that we may understand this mystery as I have said, Brethren, let us live holily, let us love God for His Own sake. Now He who shows to us while in our pilgrimage the form of a servant, reserves for those that reach their country the form of God. With the form of a servant has He laid down the way, with the form of God He has prepared the home. Seeing then that it is a hard matter for us to comprehend this, but no hard matter to believe it; for Isaiah says, Unless ye believe you shall not understand; let us walk by faith as long as we are in pilgrimage from the Lord, till we come to sight where we shall see face to face. As walking by faith, let us do good works. In these good works, let there be a free love of God for His Own sake, and an active love of our neighbour. For we have nothing we can do for God; but because we have something we may do for our neighbour, we shall by our good offices to the needy, gain His favour who is the source of all abundance. Let every one then do what he can for others; let him freely bestow upon the needy of his superfluity. One has money; let him feed the poor, let him clothe the naked, let him build a church, let him do with his money all the good he can. Another has good counsel; let him guide his neighbour, let him by the light of holiness drive away the darkness of doubting. Another has learning; let him draw out of this store of the Lord, let him minister food to his fellow-servants, strengthen the faithful, recall the wandering, seek the lost, do all the good he can. Something there is, which even the poor may deal out to one another; let one lend feet to the lame, another give his own eyes to guide the blind; another visit the sick, another bury the dead. These are things which all may do, so that in a word it would be hard to find one who has not some means of doing good to others. And last of all comes that important duty which the Apostle speaks of; Bear ye one another's burdens, and so shall you fulfil the law of Christ.

Sermon 42 on the New Testament

[XCII. Ben.]

On the same words of the Gospel, Matthew 22:42

1. The question which was proposed to the Jews, Christians ought to solve. For the Lord Jesus Christ, who proposed it to the Jews, did not solve it Himself, to the Jews, I mean, He did not, but to us He has solved it. I will put you in remembrance, Beloved, and you will find that He has solved it. But first consider the knot of the question. He asked the Jews what they thought of Christ, whose Son He was to be; for they too look for the Christ. They read of Him in the Prophets, they expected Him to come, when He had come they killed Him; for where they read that Christ would come, there did they read that they should kill Christ. But His future coming they hoped for in the Prophets; for they did not see their future crime. He therefore so questioned them about the Christ, not as if about One who was unknown to them, or whose Name they had never heard, or whose coming they had never hoped for. For they err in that even yet they hope for Him. And we indeed hope for Him too; but we hope for Him as One who is to come as Judge, not to be judged. For the Holy Prophets prophesied both, that He should come first to be judged unrighteously, that He should come afterwards to judge with righteousness. What think ye, then, says he, of Christ? Whose Son is He? They answered Him, The Son of David. And this was entirely according to the Scriptures. But He said, How then does David in spirit call Him Lord, saying, The Lord said to My Lord, Sit on My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool. If David then in spirit call Him Lord, how is He his Son?

2. Here then is need of a caution, lest Christ be thought to have denied that He was the Son of David. He did not deny that He was the Son of David, but He enquired the way. You have said that Christ is the Son of David, I do not deny it; but David calls Him Lord; tell me how is He his Son, who is also his Lord; tell me how? They did not tell Him, but were silent. Let us then tell by the explanation of Christ Himself. Where? By His Apostle. But first, whereby do we prove that Christ has Himself explained it? The Apostle says, Would ye receive a proof of Christ who speaks in me? So then in the Apostle has He vouchsafed to solve this question. In the first place, what said Christ speaking by the Apostle to Timothy? Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my Gospel. See, Christ is the Son of David. How is He also David's Lord? Tell us, O Apostle: who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Acknowledge David's Lord. If you acknowledge David's Lord, our Lord, the Lord of heaven and earth, the Lord of the Angels, equal with God, in the form of God, how is He David's Son? Mark what follows. The Apostle shows you David's Lord by saying, Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. And how is He David's Son? But He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, having become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also has highly exalted Him. Christ of the seed of David, the Son of David, rose again because He emptied Himself. How did He empty Himself? By taking that which He was not, not by losing that which He was. He emptied Himself, He humbled himself. Though He was God, He appeared as man. He was despised as He walked on earth, He who made the heaven. He was despised as though a mere man, as though of no power. Yea, not despised only, but slain moreover. He was that stone that lay on the ground, the Jews stumbled against it, and were shaken. And what does He Himself say? Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be shaken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder. First, He lay low, and they stumbled against Him; He shall come from above, and He will grind them that have been shaken to powder.

3. Thus have ye heard that Christ is both David's Son, and David's Lord: David's Lord always, David's Son in time: David's Lord, born of the substance of His Father, David's Son, born of the Virgin Mary, conceived by the Holy Ghost. Let us hold fast both. The one of them will be our eternal habitation, the other is our deliverance from our present exile. For unless our Lord Jesus Christ had vouchsafed to become man, man had perished. He was made that which He made, that what He made might not perish. Very Man, Very God; God and man whole Christ. This is the Catholic faith. Whoever denies that Christ is God is a Photinian; whoever denies that Christ is man is a Manichæan. Whoever confesses that Christ is God equal with the Father and very man, that He truly suffered, truly shed His blood (for the Truth would not have set us free, if He had given a false price for us); whoever confesses both, is a Catholic. He has the country, he has the way. He has the country, In the beginning was the Word; He has the country, Being in the form of God, He thought it not robbery to be equal with God. He has the way, The Word was made flesh; He has the way, He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant. He is the home whither we are going, He is the way whereby we go. Let us by Him go unto Him, and we shall not go astray.

Sermon 43 on the New Testament

[XCIII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 25:1 , then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins.

1. You who were present yesterday remember my promise; which with the Lord's assistance is to be made good today, not to you only, but to the many others also who have come together. It is no easy question, who the ten virgins are, of whom five are wise, and five foolish. Nevertheless, according to the context of this passage which I have wished should be read again to you today, Beloved, I do not think, as far as the Lord vouchsafes to give me understanding, that this parable or similitude relates to those women only who by a peculiar and more excellent sanctity are called Virgins in the Church, whom by a more usual term we are wont also to call, The Religious; but if I mistake not this parable relates to the whole Church. But though we should understand it of those only who are called the Religious, are they but ten? God forbid that so great a company of virgins should be reduced to so small a number! But perhaps one may say, But what if though they be so many in outward profession, yet in truth they are so few, that scarce ten can be found! It is not so. For if he had meant that the good virgins only should be understood by the ten, He would not have represented five foolish ones among them. For if this is the number of the virgins which are called, why are the doors of the great house shut against five?

2. So then let us understand, dearly Beloved, that this parable relates to us all, that is, to the whole Church together, not to the Clergy only of whom we spoke yesterday; nor to the laity only; but generally to all. Why then are the Virgins five and five? These five and five virgins are all Christian souls together. But that I may tell you what by the Lord's inspiration I think, it is not souls of every sort, but such souls as have the Catholic faith, and seem to have good works in the Church of God; and yet even of them, five are wise, and five are foolish. First then let us see why they are called five, and why virgins, and then let us consider the rest. Every soul in the body is therefore denoted by the number five, because it makes use of five senses. For there is nothing of which we have perception by the body, but by the five folded gate, either by the sight, or the hearing, or the smelling, or the tasting, or the touching. Whoever then abstains from unlawful seeing, unlawful hearing, unlawful smelling, unlawful tasting, and unlawful touching, by reason of his uncorruptness has gotten the name of virgin.

3. But if it be good to abstain from the unlawful excitements of the senses, and on that account every Christian soul has gotten the name of virgin; why are five admitted and five rejected? They are both virgins, and yet are rejected. It is not enough that they are virgins; and that they have lamps. They are virgins, by reason of abstinence from unlawful indulgence of the senses; they have lamps, by reason of good works. Of which good works the Lord says, Let your works shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Again He says to His disciples, Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning. In the girded loins is virginity; in the burning lamps good works.

4. The title of virginity is not usually applied to married persons: yet even in them there is a virginity of faith, which produces wedded chastity. For that you may know, Holy Brethren, that every one, every soul, as touching the soul, and that uncorruptness of faith by which abstinence from things unlawful is practised, and by which good works are done, is not unsuitably called a virgin; the whole Church which consists of virgins, and boys, and married men and married women, is by one name called a Virgin. Whence prove we this? Hear the Apostle saying, not to the religious women only but to the whole Church together; I have espoused you to One Husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. And because the devil, the corrupter of this virginity, is to be guarded against, after the Apostle had said, I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ; he subjoined, But I fear, lest as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Few have virginity in the body; in the heart all ought to have it. If then abstinence from what is unlawful be good, whereby it has received the name of virginity, and good works are praiseworthy, which are signified by the lamps; why are five admitted and five rejected? If there be a virgin, and one who carries lamps, who yet is not admitted; where shall he see himself, who neither preserves a virginity from things unlawful, and who not wishing to have good works walks in darkness?

5. Of these then, my Brethren, yea, of these let us the rather treat. He who will not see what is evil, he who will not hear what is evil, he that turns away his smell from the unlawful fumes, and his taste from the unlawful food of the sacrifices, he who refuses the embrace of another man's wife, breaks his bread to the hungry, brings the stranger into his house, clothes the naked, reconciles the litigious, visits the sick, buries the dead; he surely is a virgin, surely he has lamps. What seek we more? Something yet I seek. What do you seek yet, one will say? Something yet I seek; the Holy Gospel has set me on the search. It has said that even of these, virgins, and carrying lamps, some are wise and some foolish. By what do we see this? By what make the distinction? By the oil. Some great, some exceedingly great thing does this oil signify. Do you think that it is not charity? This we say as searching out what it is; we hazard no precipitate judgment. I will tell you why charity seems to be signified by the oil. The Apostle says, I show unto you a way above the rest. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of Angels, and have not charity, I have become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. This, that is charity, is that way above the rest, which is with good reason signified by the oil. For oil swims above all liquids. Pour in water, and pour in oil upon it, the oil will swim above. Pour in oil, pour in water upon it, the oil will swim above. If you keep the usual order, it will be uppermost; if you change the order, it will be uppermost. Charity never falls.

6. What is it then, Brethren? Let us treat now of the five wise and the five foolish virgins. They wished to go to meet the Bridegroom. What is the meaning of to go and meet the Bridegroom? To go with the heart, to be waiting for his coming. But he tarried. While he tarries, they all slept. What is all? Both the foolish and the wise, all slumbered and slept. Think we is this sleep good? What is this sleep? Is it that at the tarrying of the Bridegroom, because iniquity abounds, the love of many waxes cold? Are we to understand this sleep so? I like it not. I will tell you why. Because among them are the wise virgins; and certainly when the Lord said, Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold; He went on to say, But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. Where would you have those wise virgins be? Are they not among those that shall endure unto the end? They would not be admitted within at all, Brethren, for any other reason, than because they have endured unto the end. No coldness of love then crept over them, in them love did not wax cold; but preserves its glow even unto the end. And because it glows even unto the end, therefore are the gates of the Bridegroom opened to them; therefore are they told to enter in, as that excellent servant, Enter into the joy of your Lord. What then is the meaning of they all slept? There is another sleep which no one escapes. Remember ye not the Apostle saying, But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that is, concerning them which are dead? For why are they called they which are asleep, but because they are in their own day? Therefore they all slept. Do you think that because one is wise, he has not therefore to die? Be the virgin foolish, or be she wise, all suffer equally the sleep of death.

7. But men continually say to themselves, Lo, the day of judgment is coming now, so many evils are happening, so many tribulations thicken; behold all things which the Prophets have spoken, are nearly fulfilled; the day of judgment is already at hand. They who speak thus, and speak in faith, go out as it were with such thoughts to meet the Bridegroom. But, lo! war upon war, tribulation upon tribulation, earthquake upon earthquake, famine upon famine, nation against nation, and still the Bridegroom comes not yet. Whilst then He is expected to come, all they who are saying, Lo, He is coming, and the Day of Judgment will find us here, fall asleep. Whilst they are saying this, they fall asleep. Let each one then have an eye to this his sleep, and persevere even unto his sleep in love; let sleep find him so waiting. For suppose that he has fallen asleep. Will not He who falls asleep afterwards rise again? Therefore they all slept; both of the wise and the foolish virgins in the parable, it is said, they all slept.

8. Lo, at midnight there was a cry made. What is, at midnight? When there is no expectation, no belief at all of it. Night is put for ignorance. A man makes as it were a calculation with himself: Lo, so many years have passed since Adam, and the six thousand years are being completed, and then immediately according to the computation of certain expositors, the Day of Judgment will come; yet these calculations come and pass away, and still the coming of the Bridegroom is delayed, and the virgins who had gone to meet him sleep. And, lo, when He is not looked for, when men are saying, The six thousand years were waited for, and, lo, they are gone by, how then shall we know when He will come? He will come at midnight. What is, will come at midnight? Will come when you are not aware. Why will He come when you are not aware of it? Hear the Lord Himself, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Lord has put in His own power. The day of the Lord, says the Apostle, will come as a thief in the night. Therefore watch by night that you be not surprised by the thief. For the sleep of death — will you, or nill ye — it will come.

9. But when that cry was made at midnight. What cry was this, but that of which the Apostle says, In the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump? For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed? And so when the cry was made at midnight, Behold, the Bridegroom comes; what follows? Then all those virgins arose. What is, they all arose? The hour will come, said the Lord Himself, when all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth. Therefore at the last trumpet they all arose. Now those wise virgins had brought oil with them in their vessels; but the foolish brought no oil with them. What is the meaning of brought no oil with them in their vessels? What is in their vessels? In their hearts. Whence the Apostle says, Our glorying is this, the testimony of our conscience. There is the oil, the precious oil; this oil is of the gift of God. Men can put oil into their vessels, but they cannot create the olive. See, I have oil; but did you create the oil? It is of the gift of God. You have oil. Carry it with you. What is carry it with you? Have it within, there please God.

10. For, lo, those foolish virgins, who brought no oil with them, wish to please men by that abstinence of theirs whereby they are called virgins, and by their good works, when they seem to carry lamps. And if they wish to please men, and on that account do all these praiseworthy works, they do not carry oil with them. Do you then carry it with you, carry it within where God sees; there carry the testimony of your conscience. For he who walks to gain the testimony of another, does not carry oil with him. If you abstain from things unlawful, and do good works to be praised of men; there is no oil within. And so when men begin to leave off their praises, the lamps fail. Observe then, Beloved, before those virgins slept, it is not said that their lamps were extinguished. The lamps of the wise virgins burned with an inward oil, with the assurance of a good conscience, with an inner glory, with an inmost charity. Yet the lamps of the foolish virgins burned also. Why burnt they then? Because there was yet no want of the praises of men. But after that they arose, that is in the resurrection from the dead, they began to trim their lamps, that is, began to prepare to render unto God an account of their works. And because there is then no one to praise, every man is wholly employed in his own cause, there is no one then who is not thinking of himself, therefore were there none to sell them oil; so their lamps began to fail, and the foolish betook themselves to the five wise, give us of your oil, for our lamps are going out. They sought for what they had been wont to seek for, to shine that is with others' oil, to walk after others' praises. Give us of your oil, for our lamps are going out.

11. But they say, Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you, but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. This was not the answer of those who give advice, but of those who mock. And why mock they? Because they were wise, because wisdom was in them. For they were not wise by ought of their own; but that wisdom was in them, of which it is written in a certain book, she shall say to those that despised her, when they have fallen upon the evils which she threatened them; I will laugh over your destruction. What wonder then is it, that the wise mock the foolish virgins? And what is this mocking?

12. Go to them that sell, and buy for yourselves: ye who never were wont to live well, but because men praised you, who sold you oil. What means this, sold you oil? Sold praises. Who sell praises, but flatterers? How much better had it been for you not to have acquiesced in flatterers, and to have carried oil within, and for a good conscience-sake to have done all good works; then might ye say, The righteous shall correct me in mercy, and reprove me, but the oil of the sinner shall not fatten my head. Rather, he says, let the righteous correct me, let the righteous reprove me, let the righteous buffet me, let the righteous correct me, than the oil of the sinner fatten mine head. What is the oil of the sinner, but the blandishments of the flatterer?

13. Go then to them that sell, this have you been accustomed to do. But we will not give to you. Why? Lest there be not enough for us and you. What is, lest there be not enough? This was not spoken in any lack of hope, but in a sober and godly humility. For though the good man have a good conscience; how knows he, how He may judge who is deceived by no one? He has a good conscience, no sins conceived in the heart solicit him, yet, though his conscience be good, because of the daily sins of human life, he says to God, forgive us our debts; seeing he has done what comes next, as we also forgive our debtors. He has broken his bread to the hungry from the heart, from the heart has clothed the naked; out of that inward oil he has done good works, and yet in that judgment even his good conscience trembles.

14. See then what this, Give us oil, is. They were told Go rather to them that sell. In that you have been used to live upon the praises of men, you do not carry oil with you; but we can give you none; lest there be not enough for us and you. For scarcely do we judge of ourselves, how much less can we judge of you? What is scarcely do we judge of ourselves? Because, When the righteous King sits on the throne, who will glory that his heart is pure? It may be you do not discover anything in your own conscience; but He who sees better, whose Divine glance penetrates into deeper things, discovers it may be something, He sees it may be something, He discovers something. How much better may you say to Him, Enter not into judgment with Your servant? Yea, how much better, Forgive us our debts? Because it shall be also said to you because of those torches, because of those lamps; I was hungry, and you gave Me meat. What then? Did not the foolish virgins do so too? Yea, but they did it not before Him. How then did they do it? As the Lord forbids, who said, Take heed that you do not your righteousness before men to be seen of them, otherwise you have no reward of your Father which is in heaven: and when you pray, be not as the hypocrites, for they love to pray, standing in the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have received their reward. They have bought oil, they have given the price; they have bought it, they have not been defrauded of men's praises, they have sought men's praises, and have had them. These praises of men aid them not in the judgment day. But the other virgins, how have they done? Let your works shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. He did not say, may glorify you. For you have no oil of your own self. Boast yourself and say, I have it; but from Him, for what have you that you have not received? So then in this way acted the one, and in that the other.

15. Now it is no wonder, that while they are going to buy, while they are seeking for persons by whom to be praised, and find none; while they are seeking for persons by whom to be comforted, and find none; that the door is opened, that the Bridegroom comes, and the Bride, the Church, glorified then with Christ, that the several members may be gathered together into their whole. And they went in with Him into the marriage, and the door was shut. Then the foolish virgins came afterwards; but had they bought any oil, or found any from whom they might buy it? Therefore they found the doors shut; they began to knock, but too late.

16. It is said, and it is true, and no deceiving saying, Knock, and it shall be opened unto you; but now when it is the time of mercy, not when it is the time of judgment. For these times cannot be confounded, since the Church sings to her Lord of mercy and judgment. It is the time of mercy; repent. Can you repent in the time of judgment? You will be then as those virgins, against whom the door was shut. Lord, Lord, open to us. What! Did they not repent, that they had brought no oil with them? Yes, but what profits them their late repentance, when the true wisdom mocked them? Therefore the door was shut. And what was said to them? I know you not. Did not He know them, who knows all things? What then is, I know you not? I refuse, I reject you. In my art I do not acknowledge you, my art knows not vice; now this is a marvellous thing, it does not know vice, and it judges vice. It does not know it in the practice of it; it judges by reproving it. Thus then, I know you not.

17. The five wise virgins came, and went in. How many are you, my Brethren, in the profession of Christ's Name! let there be among you the five wise, but be not five such persons only. Let there be among you the five wise, belonging to this wisdom of the number five. For the hour will come, and come when we know not. It will come at midnight, Watch ye. Thus did the Gospel close; Watch, for you know neither the day nor the hour. But if we are all to sleep, how shall we watch? Watch with the heart, watch with faith, watch with hope, watch with charity, watch with good works; and then, when you shall sleep in your body, the time will come that you shall rise. And when you shall have risen, make ready the lamps. Then shall they go out no more, then shall they be renewed with the inner oil of conscience; then shall that Bridegroom fold you in His spiritual embrace, then shall He bring you into His House where you shall never sleep, where your lamp can never be extinguished. But at present we are in labour, and our lamps flicker amid the winds and temptations of this life; but only let our flame burn strongly, that the wind of temptation may increase the fire, rather than put it out.

Sermon 44 on the New Testament

[XCIV. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 25:24 , etc., where the slothful servant who would not put out the talent he had received, is condemned.

1. My lords, my brethren, and fellow bishops have deigned to visit us and gladden us by their presence; but I know not why they are unwilling to assist me, when wearied. I have said this to you, Beloved, in their hearing, that your hearing may in a manner intercede for me with them, that when I ask them they also may discourse unto you in their turn. Let them dispense what they have received, let them vouchsafe to work rather than excuse themselves. Be pleased, however, to hear from me, fatigued though I be and have difficulty in speaking, a few words only. For we have besides a record of God's mercies vouchsafed through a holy Martyr, which we must give willing audience to altogether. What is it then? What shall I say unto you? You have heard in the Gospel both the due recompense of the good servants, and the punishment of the bad. And the whole wickedness of that servant who was reprobate and severely condemned, was that he would not put out his money to use. He kept the entire sum he had received; but the Lord looked for profit from it. God is coveteous with regard to our salvation. If he who did not put out to use is so condemned, what must they look for who lose what they have received? We then are the dispensers, we put out, you receive. We look for profit; do ye live well. For this is the profit in our dealings with you. But do not think that this office of putting out to use does not belong to you also. You cannot execute it indeed from this elevated seat, but you can wherever ye chance to be. Wherever Christ is attacked, defend Him; answer murmurers, rebuke blasphemers, from their fellowship keep yourselves apart. So do ye put out to use, if you make gain of any. Discharge our office in your own houses. A bishop is called from hence, because he superintends, because he takes care and attends to others. To every man then, if he is the head of his own house, ought the office of the Episcopate to belong, to take care how his household believe, that none of them fall into heresy, neither wife, nor son, nor daughter, nor even his slave, because he has been bought at so great a price. The Apostolic teaching has set the master over the slave, and put the slave under the master; nevertheless Christ gave the same price for both. Do not neglect then the least of those belonging to you, look after the salvation of all your household with all vigilance. This if you do, you put out to use; ye will not be slothful servants, you will not have to fear so horrible a condemnation.

Sermon 45 on the New Testament

[XCV. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Mark 8:5 , etc., where the miracle of the seven loaves is related.

1. In expounding to you the Holy Scriptures, I as it were break bread for you. Do ye in hunger receive it, and break forth with a fullness of phrase from the heart; and you who are rich in your banquet, be not meagre in good works and deeds. What I deal out to you is not my own. What you eat, I eat; what ye live upon, I live upon. We have in heaven a common store-house; for from thence comes the Word of God.

2. The seven loaves signify the seven-fold operation of the Holy Spirit; the four thousand men, the Church established on the four Gospels; the seven baskets of fragments, the perfection of the Church. For by this number very constantly is perfection figured. For whence is that which is said, seven times in a day will I praise you? Does a man sin who does not praise the Lord so often? What then is seven times will I praise, but I will never cease from praise? For he who says seven times, signifies all time. Whence in this world there are continual revolutions of seven days. What then is seven times in a day will I praise You, but what is said in another place, His praise shall always be in my mouth? With reference to this perfection, John writes to seven Churches. The Apocalypse is a book of St. John the Evangelist; and he writes to seven Churches. Be hungered; own ye these baskets. For those fragments were not lost; but seeing that you too belong to the Church, they have surely profited you. In that I explain this to you, I minister to Christ; and when you hear peaceably, you sit down. I in my body sit, but in my heart I am standing, and ministering to you in anxiety; lest perhaps, not the food, but the vessel offend any of you. You know the feast of God, you have often heard it, that it is for the heart, not for the belly.

3. Of a truth four thousand men were filled by seven loaves; what is more wonderful than this! Yet even this were not enough, had not seven baskets also been filled with the fragments that remained. O great mysteries! They were works, and the works spoke. If you understand these doings, they are words. And ye too belong to the four thousand, because ye live under the fourfold Gospel. To this number the children and women did not belong. For so it is said, And they that did eat were four thousand men, excepting women and children. As though the void of understanding, and the effeminate were without number. Yet let even these eat. Let them eat: it may be the children will grow, and will be children no more; it may be the effeminate will be amended, and become chaste. Let them eat; we dispense, we deal out to them. But who these are, God inspects His feast, and if they do not amend themselves, He who knew how to invite them there, knows also how to separate them from the rest.

4. You know it, dearly Beloved; call to mind the parable of the Gospel, how that the Lord came in to inspect the guests at a certain feast of His. The Master of the house who had invited them, as it is written, found there a man which had not on a wedding garment. For to the marriage had that Bridegroom invited them who is fair in beauty above the children of men. That Bridegroom became deformed because of His deformed spouse, that he might make her fair. How did the Fair One become deformed? If I do not prove it, I am blaspheming. The testimony of his fair beauty the Prophet gives me, who says, You are fair in beauty above the children of men. The testimony of his deformity another Prophet gives me, who says, We saw Him, and He had no grace, nor beauty; but His countenance was marred, and His whole look deformed. O Prophet, who said, You are fair in beauty above the children of men; you are contradicted; another Prophet comes out against you, and says, You speak falsely. We have seen Him. What is this that you say, 'You are fair in beauty above the children of men? We have seen Him, and He had no grace nor beauty.' Are then these two Prophets at disagreement in the Cornerstone of peace? Both spoke of Christ, both spoke of the Cornerstone. In the corner the walls unite. If they do not unite, it is not a building, but a ruin. No, the Prophets agree, let us not leave them in strife. Yea, rather let us understand their peace; for they know not how to strive. O Prophet, who said, You are fair in beauty above the children of men; where did you see Him? Answer me, answer where did you see Him? Being in the form of God, He thought it not robbery to be equal with God. There I saw Him. Do you doubt that He who is equal with God is fair in beauty above the children of men? You have answered; now let him answer who said, We saw Him, and He had no grace, nor beauty. You have said so; tell us where did you see Him? He begins from the other's words; where the other ended, there he begins. Where did he end? Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Lo, where he saw Him who was fair in beauty above the children of men; do thou tell us, where you saw that He had no grace nor beauty. But He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man. Of His deformity he still further says; He humbled Himself, having become obedient unto death even the death of the cross. Lo, where I saw Him. Therefore are they both in peaceful concord, both are at peace together. What is more fair than God? What more deformed than the Crucified?

5. So then this Bridegroom, fair in beauty above the children of men, became deformed that He might make His Spouse fair to whom it is said, O you beauteous among women, of whom it is said, Who is this that comes up, whitened with the brightness of light, not the coloring of falsehood! He then who called them to the wedding, found a man who had not a wedding garment, and He said to him, Friend, how did you come in hither, not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. For he found not what to answer. And the Master of the house Who had invited him said, Bind him hands and feet, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For so small a fault, so great a punishment? For great it is. It is called a small fault not to have the wedding garment; small, but only by those who do not understand. How would He have been so incensed, how would He have so judged, to cast him, on account of the wedding garment which he had not, bound hands and feet into outer darkness, where was weeping and gnashing of teeth, unless it had been a very grievous fault, not to have the wedding garment? I say this; seeing you have been invited through me; for though He invited you, He invited you by my ministry. You are all at the feast, have the wedding garment. I will explain what it is, that you may all have it, and if any one now hears me who has it not, let him, before the Master of the house comes and inspects His guests, be changed for the better, let him receive the wedding garment, and so sit down in all assurance.

6. For in truth, dearly Beloved, he who was cast forth from the feast, does not signify one man; far from it. They are many. And the Lord Himself who put forth this parable, the Bridegroom Himself, who calls together to the feast, and quickens whom He calls, He has Himself explained to us, that that man does not denote one man, but many, there, in that very place, in the same parable. I do not go far for this, I find the explanation there, there I break the bread, and set it before you to be eaten. For He said, when he who had not the wedding garment was cast out thence into outer darkness, He said and added immediately, for many are called, but few chosen. You have cast forth one man from hence, and You say, for many are called, but few chosen. Without doubt the chosen are not cast forth; and they were the few guests who remained; and the many were represented in that one, because that one who has not the wedding garment is the body of the wicked.

7. What is the wedding garment? Let us search for it in the Holy Scriptures. What is the wedding garment? Without doubt it is something which the bad and good have not in common; let us discover this, and we shall discover the wedding garment. Among the gifts of God, what have not the good and bad in common? That we are men and not beasts, is a gift of God; but this is common to good and bad. That the light from heaven rises upon us, that the rain descends from the cloud, the fountains flow, the fields yield their fruit; these are gifts, but common to the good and bad. Let us go to the marriage feast, let us leave the others without, who being called come not. Let us consider the guests themselves, that is, Christians. Baptism is a gift of God, the good and bad have it. The Sacraments of the Altar the good and bad receive together. Saul prophesied for all his wickedness, and in his rage against a holy and most righteous man, even while he was persecuting him, he prophesied. Are the good only said to believe? The devils also believe and tremble. What shall I do? I have sifted all, and have not yet come to the wedding garment. I have unfolded my envelopings, I have considered all, or almost all, and have not yet come to that garment. The Apostle Paul in a certain place has brought me a great collection of excellent things; he has laid them open before me, and I have said to him, Show me, if so be you have found among them that 'wedding garment.' He begins to unfold them one by one, and to say, Though I speak with the tongues of men and of Angels, though I have all knowledge, and the gift of prophecy, and all faith, so that I could remove mountains; though I distribute all my goods to the poor, and give my body to be burned. Precious garments! nevertheless, there is not yet here that wedding garment. Now bring out to us the wedding garment. Why do you keep us in suspense, O Apostle? Peradventure prophecy is a gift of God which both good and bad have not. If, says He, I have not charity, nothing profits me. See the wedding garment; put it on, you guests, that you may sit down securely. Do not say; we are too poor to have that garment. Clothe others, and you are clothed yourselves. It is winter, clothe the naked. Christ is naked; and He will give you that wedding garment whosoever have it not. Run to Him, beseech Him; He knows how to sanctify His faithful ones, He knows how to clothe His naked ones. That ye may be able as having the wedding garment to be free from the fear of the outer darkness, and the binding of your members and hands and feet; let not your works fail. If they fail, with hands bound what can you do? With feet bound, whither will you fly? Keep then that wedding garment, put it on, and so sit down in security, when He comes to inspect. The Day of Judgment will come; He is now giving a long space, let him who erewhile was naked now be clothed.

Sermon 46 on the New Testament

[XCVI. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Mark 8:34 , If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, etc. And on the words 1 John 2:15 , if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1. Hard and grievous does that appear which the Lord has enjoined, that whosoever will come after Him, must deny himself. But what He enjoins is not hard or grievous, who aids us that what He enjoins may be done. For both is that true which is said to Him in the Psalm, Because of the words of Your lips I have kept hard ways. And that is true which He said Himself, My yoke is easy, and My burden is light. For whatsoever is hard in what is enjoined us, charity makes easy. We know what great things love itself can do. Very often is this love even abominable and impure; but how great hardships have men suffered, what indignities and intolerable things have they endured, to attain to the object of their love? Whether it be a lover of money who is called covetous; or a lover of honour, who is called ambitious; or a lover of beautiful women, who is called voluptuous. And who could enumerate all sorts of loves? Yet consider what labour all lovers undergo, and are not conscious of their labours; and then does any such one most feel labour, when he is hindered from labour. Since then the majority of men are such as their loves are, and that there ought to be no other care for the regulation of our lives, than the choice of that which we ought to love; why do you wonder, if he who loves Christ, and who wishes to follow Christ, for the love of Him denies himself? For if by loving himself man is lost, surely by denying himself he is found.

2. The first destruction of man, was the love of himself. For if he had not loved himself, if he had preferred God to himself, he would have been willing to be ever subject unto God; and would not have been turned to the neglect of His will, and the doing his own will. For this is to love one's self, to wish to do one's own will. Prefer to this God's will; learn to love yourself by not loving yourself. For that you may know that it is a vice to love one's self, the Apostle speaks thus, For men shall be lovers of their own selves. And can he who loves himself have any sure trust in himself? No; for he begins to love himself by forsaking God, and is driven away from himself to love those things which are beyond himself; to such a degree that when the aforesaid Apostle had said, Men shall be lovers of their own selves, he subjoined immediately, lovers of money. Already you see that you are without. You have begun to love yourself: stand in yourself if you can. Why do you go without? Have you, as being rich in money, become a lover of money? You have begun to love what is without you, you have lost yourself. When a man's love then goes even away from himself to those things which are without, he begins to share the vanity of his vain desires, and prodigal as it were to spend his strength. He is dissipated, exhausted, without resource or strength, he feeds swine; and wearied with this office of feeding swine, he at last remembers what he was, and says, How many hired servants of my Father's are eating bread, and I here perish with hunger! But when the son in the parable says this, what is said of him, who had squandered all he had on harlots, who wished to have in his own power what was being well kept for him with his father; he wished to have it at his own disposal, he squandered all, he was reduced to indigence: what is said of him? And when he returned to himself. If he returned to himself, he had gone away from himself. Because he had fallen from himself, had gone away from himself, he returns first to himself, that he may return to that state from which he had fallen away by falling from himself. For as by falling away from himself, he remained in himself; so by returning to himself, he ought not to remain in himself, lest he again go away from himself. Returning then to himself, that he might not remain in himself, what did he say? I will arise and go to my Father. See, whence he had fallen away from himself, he had fallen away from his Father; he had fallen away from himself, he had gone away from himself to those things which are without. He returns to himself, and goes to his Father, where he may keep himself in all security. If then he had gone away from himself, let him also in returning to himself, from whom he had gone away, that he may go to his Father, deny himself. What is deny himself? Let him not trust in himself, let him feel that he is a man, and have respect to the words of the prophet, Cursed is every one that puts his hope in man. Let him withdraw himself from himself, but not towards things below. Let him withdraw himself from himself, that he may cleave unto God. Whatever of good he has, let him commit to Him by whom he was made; whatever of evil he has, he has made it for himself. The evil that is in him God made not; let him destroy what himself has done, who has been thereby undone. Let him deny himself, He says, and take up his cross, and follow Me.

3. And whither must the Lord be followed? Whither He is gone, we know; but a very few days since we celebrated the solemn memorial of it. For He has risen again, and ascended into heaven; there must He be followed. Undoubtedly we must not despair of it, because He has Himself promised us, not because man can do anything. Heaven was far away from us, before that our Head had gone into heaven. But now why should we despair, if we are members of that Head? Thither then must He be followed. And who would be unwilling to follow Him to such an abode? Especially seeing that we are in so great travail on earth with fears and pains. Who would be unwilling to follow Christ there, where is supreme felicity, supreme peace, perpetual security? Good is it to follow Him there: but we must see by what way we are to follow. For the Lord Jesus did not say the words we are engaged in, when He had now risen from the dead. He had not yet suffered, He had still to come to the Cross, had to come to His dishonouring, to the outrages, the scourging, the thorns, the wounds, the mockeries, the insults, Death. Rough as it were is the way; it makes you to be slow; you have no mind to follow. But follow on. Rough is the way which man has made for himself, but what Christ has trodden in His passage is worn smooth. For who would not wish to go to exaltation? Elevation is pleasing to all; but humility is the step to it. Why do you put out your foot beyond you? You have a mind to fall, not to ascend. Begin by the step, and so you have ascended. This step of humility those two disciples were loth to have an eye to, who said, Lord, bid that one of us may sit at Your right hand, and the other at the left in Your kingdom. They sought for exaltation, they did not see the step. But the Lord showed them the step. For what did He answer them? You who seek the hill of exaltation, can you drink the cup of humiliation? And therefore He does not say simply, Let him deny himself, and follow Me howsoever: but He said more, Let him take up his cross, and follow Me.

4. What is, Let him take up his cross? Let him bear whatever trouble he has; so let him follow Me. For when he shall begin to follow Me in conformity to My life and precepts, he will have many to contradict him, he will have many to hinder him, he will have many to dissuade him, and that from among those who are even as it were Christ's companions. They who hindered the blind men from crying out were walking with Christ. Whether therefore they be threats or caresses, or whatsoever hindrances there be, if you wish to follow, turn them into your cross, bear it, carry it, do not give way beneath it. There seems to be an exhortation to martyrdom in these words of the Lord. If there be persecution, ought not all things to be despised in consideration of Christ? The world is loved; but let Him be preferred by whom the world was made. Great is the world; but greater is He by whom the world was made. Fair is the world; but fairer is He by whom the world was made. Sweet is the world; but sweeter is He by whom the world was made. Evil is the world; and good is He by whom the world was made. How shall I be able to explain and unravel what I have said? May God help me? For what have I said? What have ye applauded? See, it is but a question, and yet you have already applauded. How is the world evil, if He by whom the world was made is good? Did not God make all things, and behold they were very good? Does not Scripture at each several work of creation testify that God made it good, by saying, And God saw that it was good, and at the end summed them all up together thus how that God had made them, And behold they were very good?

5. How then is the world evil, and He good by whom the world was made? How? Since the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. The world was made by Him, the heaven and earth and all things that are in them: the world knew Him not, the lovers of the world; the lovers of the world and the despisers of God; this world knew Him not. So then the world is evil, because they are evil who prefer the world to God. And He is good who made the world, the heaven, and earth, and sea, and themselves who love the world. For this only, that they love the world and do not love God, He made not in them. But themselves, all that appertains to their nature He made; what appertains to guiltiness, He made not. This is that I said a little while ago, Let man efface what he has made, and so will he be well-pleasing to Him who made Him.

6. For there is among men themselves a good world also; but one that has been made good from being evil. For the whole world if you take the word world for men, putting aside (what we call the world) the heaven and earth and all things that in them are; if you take the world for men, the whole world did he who first sinned make evil. The whole mass was corrupted in the root. God made man good; so runs the Scripture, God made man upright; and men themselves found out many cogitations. Run from these many to One, gather up your scattered things into one: flow on together, fence yourself in, abide with One; go not to many things. There is blessedness. But we have flowed away, have gone on to perdition: we were all born with sin, and to that sin wherein we were born have we too added by our evil living, and the whole world has become evil. But Christ came, and He chose that which He made, not what He found; for He found all evil, and by His grace He made them good. And so was made another world; and the world now persecutes the world.

7. What is the world which persecutes? That of which it is said to us, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that does the will of God abides for ever, even as God abides forever. Lo! I have spoken of two worlds, the world which persecutes, and that which it persecutes. What is the world which persecutes? All that is the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but of the world; and the world passes away. Lo, this is the world which persecutes. What is the world which it persecutes? He that does the will of God abides for ever, even as God abides forever.

8. But see, that which persecutes is called the world; let us prove whether that also which suffers persecution is called the world. What! Are you deaf to the voice of Christ who speaks, or rather to Holy Scripture which testifies, God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. If the world hate you, know ye that it first hated Me. See, the world hates. What does it hate but the world? What world? God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. The condemned world persecutes; the reconciled world suffers persecution. The condemned world is all that is without the Church; the reconciled world is the Church. For He says, The Son of Man came not to judge the world, but that the world through Him may be saved.

9. Now in this world, holy, good, reconciled, saved, or rather to be saved, and now saved in hope, for we are saved in hope; in this world, I say, that is in the Church which wholly follows Christ, He has said as of universal application, Whosoever will follow Me, let him deny himself. For it is not that the virgins ought to give ear to this, and the married women ought not; or that the widows ought, and the women who still have their husbands ought not; or that monks ought, and the married men ought not; or that the clergy ought, and the laymen ought not: but let the whole Church, the whole body, all the members, distinguished and distributed throughout their several offices, follow Christ. Let the whole Church follow Him, that only Church, let the dove follow Him, let the spouse follow Him, let her who has been redeemed and endowed with the Bridegroom's blood, follow Him. There virgin purity has its place; there widowed continence has its place; married chastity there has its place; but adultery has no place of its own there; and no place there has lasciviousness, unlawful and meet for punishment. But let these several members which have their place there, in their kind and place and measure, follow Christ; let them deny themselves; that is, let them presume nothing of themselves: let them take up their cross, that is, let them in the world endure for Christ's sake whatever the world may bring upon them. Let them love Him, who Alone does not deceive, who Alone is not deceived, Alone deceives not; let them love Him, for that is true which He does promise. But because He does not give at once, faith wavers. Hold on, persevere, endure, bear delay and you have borne the cross.

10. Let not the virgin say, I shall alone be there. For Mary shall not be there alone but the widow Anna shall be there also. Let not the woman which has an husband say, The widow will be there, not I; for it is not that Anna will be there, and Susanna not be there. But by all means let them who would be there prove themselves hereby, that they who have here a lower place envy not, but love in others the better place. For, for instance, my Brethren, that you may understand me; one man has chosen a married life, another a life of continence; if he who has chosen the married life, has adulterous lusts, he has looked back; he has lusted after that which is unlawful. He too who would wish afterwards to return from continence to a married life, has looked back; he has chosen what is in itself lawful, yet he has looked back. Is marriage then to be condemned? No. Marriage is not to be condemned; but see whither he had come who has chosen it. He had already got before it. When he was living as a young man in voluptuousness, marriage was before him; he was making his way towards it; but when he had chosen continence, marriage was behind him. Remember, says the Lord, Lot's wife. Lot's wife, by looking behind, remained motionless. To whatever point then any one has been able to reach, let him fear to look back from thence; and let him walk in the way, let him follow Christ. Forgetting those things which are behind, and stretching forth unto those things which are before, let him by an earnest inward intention press on toward the prize of the calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let those that are married regard the unmarried as above themselves; let them acknowledge that they are better; let them in them love what themselves have not; and let them in them love Christ.

Sermon 47 on the New Testament

[XCVII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Mark 13:32 , But of that day or that hour knows no one, not even the angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.

1. The advice, Brethren, which you have just heard Scripture give, when it tells us to watch for the last day, every one should think of as concerning his own last day; lest haply when you judge or think the last day of the world to be far distant, you slumber with respect to your own last day. You have heard what Jesus said concerning the last day of this world, That neither the Angels of heaven, nor the Son knew it, but the Father. Where indeed there is a great difficulty, lest understanding this in a carnal way, we think that the Father knows anything which the Son knows not. For indeed when He said, the Father knows it; He said this because in the Father the Son also knows it. For what is there in a day which was not made by the Word, by whom the day was made? Let no one then search out for the last Day, when it is to be; but let us watch all by our good lives, lest the last day of any one of us find us unprepared, and such as any one shall depart hence on his last day, such he be found in the last day of the world. Nothing will then assist you which you shall not have done here. His own works will succour, or his own works will overwhelm every one.

2. And how have we in the Psalm sung unto the Lord, Lord, have mercy on me, for man has trodden me down? He is called a man who lives after the manner of men. For it is said to them who live after God, You are gods, and you are all the children of the Most High. But to the reprobate, who were called to be the sons of God, and who wished rather to be men, that is, to live after the manner of men, he says, But you shall die like men, and fall as one of the princes. For that man is mortal, ought to avail for his instruction, not for boasting. Whereupon does a worm that is to die on the morrow boast himself? I speak to your love, Brethren; proud mortals ought to be made blush by the devil. For he, though proud, is yet immortal; he is a spirit, though a malignant one. The last day is kept in store for him at the end as his punishment; nevertheless he is not subject to the death to which we are subject. But man heard the sentence, You shall surely die. Let him make a good use of his punishment. What is that I have said, Let him make a good use of his punishment? Let him not by that from which he received his punishment fall into pride; let him acknowledge that he is mortal, and let it break down his elation. Let him hear it said to him, Why is earth and ashes proud? Even if the devil is proud, he is not earth and ashes. Therefore was it said, But you shall die like men, and shall fall as one of the princes. You do not consider that you are mortals, and you are proud as the devil. Let man then make a good use of his punishment, Brethren; let him make a good use of his evil, that he may make advancement to his good. Who does not know, that the necessity of our dying is a punishment; and the more grievous, that we know not when? The punishment is certain, the hour uncertain; and of that punishment alone are we certain in the ordinary course of human affairs.

3. All else of ours, both good and evil, is uncertain; death alone is certain. What is this that I say? A child is conceived, perhaps it will be born, perhaps it will be an untimely birth. So it is uncertain: Perhaps he will grow up, perhaps he will not grow up; perhaps he will grow old, perhaps he will not grow old; perhaps he will be rich, perhaps poor; perhaps he will be distinguished, perhaps abased; perhaps he will have children, perhaps he will not; perhaps he will marry, perhaps not; and so on, whatever else among good things you may name. Now look too at the evils of life: Perhaps he will have sickness, perhaps he will have not; perhaps he will be stung by a serpent, perhaps not; perhap he will be devoured by a wild beast, perhaps he will not. And so look at all evils; everywhere is there a perhaps it will be, and perhaps it will not. But can you say, Perhaps he will die, and perhaps he will not die? As when medical men examine an illness, and ascertain that it is fatal, they make this announcement; He will die, he will not get over this. So from the moment of a man's birth, it may be said, He will not get over this. When he is born he begins to be ailing. When he dies, he ends indeed this ailment: but he knows not whether he does not fall into a worse. The rich man in the Gospel had ended his voluptuous ailment, he came to a tormenting one. But the poor man ended his ailment, and arrived at perfect health. But he made choice in this life of what he was to have hereafter; and what he reaped there, he sowed here. Therefore while we live we ought to watch, and to make choice of that which we may possess in the world to come.

4. Let us not love the world. It overwhelms its lovers, it conducts them to no good. We must rather labour in it that it seduce us not, than fear lest it should fall. Lo, the world falls; the Christian stands firm; because Christ does not fall. For wherefore says the Lord, Rejoice, for that I have overcome the world? We might answer Him if we pleased, 'Rejoice,' yes do Thou rejoice. If You 'have overcome,' you rejoice. Why should we? Why does He say to us, Rejoice; but because it is for us that He has overcome, for us has fought? For wherein fought He? In that He took man's nature upon Him. Take away His birth of a virgin, take away that He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man; take away this, and where is the combat, where the contest? Where the trial? Where the victory, which no battle has preceded? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made. Could the Jews have crucified this Word? Could those impious men have mocked this Word? Could this Word have been buffeted? Could this Word have been crowned with thorns? But that He might suffer all this, the Word was made flesh; and after He had suffered all this, by rising again He overcame. So then He has overcome for us, to whom He has shown the assurance of His resurrection. You say then to God, Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for man has trodden me down. Do not tread down yourself, and man will not overcome you. For, lo, some powerful man alarms you. By what does he alarm you? I will spoil you, will condemn, will torture, will kill you. And you cry, Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for man has trodden me down. If you say the truth, and mark yourself well, one dead treads you down, because you are afraid of the threats of a man; and man treads you down, because you would not be afraid, unless you were a man. What is the remedy then? O man, cleave to God, by whom you were made a man; cleave fast to Him, put your affiance in Him, call upon Him, let Him be your strength. Say to Him, In You, O Lord, is my strength. And then you shall sing at the threatenings of men; and what you shall sing hereafter, the Lord Himself tells you, I will hope in God, I will not fear what man can do unto me.

Sermon 48 on the New Testament

[XCVIII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Luke 7:2 , etc.; on the three dead persons whom the Lord raised.

1. The miracles of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ make indeed an impression on all who hear of, and believe them; but on different men in different ways. For some amazed at His miracles done on the bodies of men, have no knowledge to discern the greater; whereas some admire the more ample fulfilment in the souls of men at the present time of those things which they hear of as having been wrought on their bodies. The Lord Himself says, For as the Father raises up the dead, and quickens them; even so the Son quickens whom He will. Not of course that the Son quickens some, the Father others; but the Father and the Son quicken the same; for the Father does all things by the Son. Let no one then who is a Christian doubt, that even at the present time the dead are raised. Now all men have eyes, wherewith they can see the dead rise again in such sort, as the son of that widow rose, of whom we have just read out of the Gospel; but those eyes wherewith men see the dead in heart rise again, all men have not, save those who have risen already in heart themselves. It is a greater miracle to raise again one who is to live for ever, than to raise one who must die again.

2. The widowed mother rejoiced at the raising again of that young man; of men raised again in spirit day by day does Mother Church rejoice. He indeed was dead in the body but they in soul. His visible death was bewailed visibly; their death invisible was neither enquired into nor perceived. He sought them out who had known them to be dead; He Alone knew them to be dead, who was able to make them alive. For if the Lord had not come to raise the dead, the Apostle would not have said, Rise, you that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light. You hear of one asleep in the words, Rise, you that sleepest; but understand it of one dead when you hear, And arise from the dead. Thus they who are even dead in the body are often said to be asleep. And certainly they all are but asleep, in respect of Him who is able to awaken them. For in respect of you, a dead man is dead indeed, seeing he will not awake, beat or prick or tear him as you will. But in respect of Christ, he was but asleep to whom it was said, Arise, and he arose immediately. No one can as easily awaken another in bed, as Christ can in the tomb.

3. Now we find that three dead persons were raised by the Lord visibly, thousands invisibly. Nay, who knows even how many dead He raised visibly? For all the things that He did are not written. John tells us this, Many other things Jesus did, the which if they should be written, I suppose that the whole world could not contain the books. So then there were without doubt many others raised: but it is not without a meaning that the three are expressly recorded. For our Lord Jesus Christ would that those things which He did on the body should be also spiritually understood. For He did not merely do miracles for the miracles' sake; but in order that the things which He did should inspire wonder in those who saw them, and convey truth to them who understand. As he who sees letters in an excellently written manuscript, and knows not how to read, praises indeed the transcriber's hand, and admires the beauty of the characters; but what those characters mean or signify he does not know; and by the sight of his eyes he is a praiser of the work, but in his mind has no comprehension of it; whereas another man both praises the work, and is capable of understanding it; such an one, I mean, who is not only able to see what is common to all, but who can read also; which he who has never learned cannot. So they who saw Christ's miracles, and understood not what they meant, and what they in a manner conveyed to those who had understanding, wondered only at the miracles themselves; whereas others both wondered at the miracles, and attained to the meaning of them. Such ought we to be in the school of Christ. For he who says that Christ only worked miracles, for the miracles' sake, may say too that He was ignorant that it was not the time for fruit, when He sought figs upon the fig-tree. For it was not the time for that fruit, as the Evangelist testifies; and yet being hungry He sought for fruit upon the tree. Did not Christ know, what any peasant knew? What the dresser of the tree knew, did not the tree's Creator know? So then when being hungry He sought fruit on the tree, He signified that He was hungry, and seeking after something else than this; and He found that tree without fruit, but full of leaves, and He cursed it, and it withered away. What had the tree done in not bearing fruit? What fault of the tree was its fruitlessness? No; but there are those who through their own will are not able to yield fruit. And barrenness is their fault, whose fruitfulness is their will. The Jews then who had the words of the Law, and had not the deeds, were full of leaves, and bare no fruit. This have I said to persuade you, that our Lord Jesus Christ performed miracles with this view, that by those miracles He might signify something further, that besides that they were wonderful and great, and divine in themselves, we might learn also something from them.

4. Let us then see what He would have us learn in those three dead persons whom He raised. He raised again the dead daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, for whom when she was sick petition was made to Him, that He would deliver her from her sickness. And as He is going, it is announced that she is dead; and as though He would now be only wearying Himself in vain, word was brought to her father, Your daughter is dead, why do you weary the Master any further? But He went on, and said to the father of the damsel, Be not afraid, only believe. He comes to the house, and finds the customary funeral obsequies already prepared, and He says to them, Weep not, for the damsel is not dead, but sleeps. He spoke the truth; she was asleep; asleep, that is, in respect of Him, by whom she could be awakened. So awakening her, He restored her alive to her parents. So again He awakened that young man, the widow's son, by whose case I have been now reminded to speak with you, Beloved, on this subject, as He Himself shall vouchsafe to give me power. You have just heard how he was awakened. The Lord came near to the city; and behold there was a dead man being carried out already beyond the gate. Moved with compassion, for that the mother, a widow and bereaved of her only son, was weeping, He did what you have heard, saying, Young man, I say unto you, Arise. He that was dead arose, and began to speak, and He restored him to his mother. He awakened Lazarus likewise from the tomb. And in that case when the disciples with whom He was speaking knew that he was sick, He said (now Jesus loved him), Our friend Lazarus sleeps. They thinking of the sick man's healthful sleep; say, Lord, if he sleep he is well. Then said Jesus, speaking now more plainly, I tell you, our friend Lazarus is dead. And in both He said the truth; He is dead in respect of you, he is asleep in respect of Me.

5. These three kinds of dead persons, are three kinds of sinners whom even at this day Christ does raise. For that dead daughter of the ruler of the synagogue was within in the house, she had not yet been carried out from the secresy of its walls into public view. There within was she raised, and restored alive to her parents. But the second was not now indeed in the house, but still not yet in the tomb, he had been carried out of the walls, but not committed to the ground. He who raised the dead maiden who was not yet carried out, raised this dead man who was now carried out, but not yet buried. There remained a third case, that He should raise one who was also buried; and this He did in Lazarus. There are then those who have sin inwardly in the heart, but have it not yet in overt act. A man, for instance, is disturbed by any lust. For the Lord Himself says, Whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her, has committed adultery with her already in his heart. He has not yet in body approached her, but in heart he has consented; he has one dead within, he has not yet carried him out. And as it often happens, as we know, as men daily experience in themselves, when they hear the word of God, as it were the Lord saying, Arise; the consent unto sin is condemned, they breathe again unto saving health and righteousness. The dead man in the house arises, the heart revives in the secret of the thoughts. This resurrection of a dead soul takes place within, in the retirement of the conscience, as it were within the walls of the house. Others after consent proceed to overt act, carrying out the dead as it were, that that which was concealed in secret, may appear in public. Are these now, who have advanced to the outward act, past hope? Was it not said to the young man in the Gospel also, I say unto you, Arise? Was he not also restored to his mother? So then he too who has committed the open act, if haply admonished and aroused by the word of truth, he rise again at the Voice of Christ, is restored alive. Go so far he could, perish for ever he could not. But they who by doing what is evil, involve themselves even in evil habit, so that this very habit of evil suffers them not to see that it is evil, become defenders of their evil deeds; are angry when they are found fault with; to such a degree, that the men of Sodom of old said to the righteous man who reproved their abominable design, You have come to sojourn, not to give laws. So powerful in that place was the habit of abominable filthiness, that profligacy now passed for righteousness, and the hinderer of it was found fault with rather than the doer. Such as these pressed down by a malignant habit, are as it were buried. Yea, what shall I say, Brethren? In such sort buried, as was said of Lazarus, By this time he stinks. That heap placed upon the grave, is this stubborn force of habit, whereby the soul is pressed down, and is not suffered either to rise, or breathe again.

6. Now it was said, He has been dead four days. So in truth the soul arrives at that habit, of which I am speaking by a kind of four-fold progress. For there is first the provocation as it were of pleasure in the heart, secondly consent, thirdly the overt act, fourthly the habit. For there are those who so entirely throw off things unlawful from their thoughts, as not even to feel any pleasure in them. There are those who do feel the pleasure, and do not consent to them; death is not yet perfected, but in a certain sort begun. To the feeling of pleasure is added consent; now at once is that condemnation incurred. After the consent, progress is made unto the open act; the act changes into a habit; and a sort of desperate condition is produced, so as that it may be said, He has been dead four days, by this time he stinks. Therefore, the Lord came, to whom of course all things were easy; yet He found in that case as it were a kind of difficulty. He groaned in the spirit, He showed that there is need of much and loud remonstrance to raise up those who have grown hard by habit. Yet at the voice of the Lord's cry, the bands of necessity were burst asunder. The powers of hell trembled, and Lazarus is restored alive. For the Lord delivers even from evil habits those who have been dead four days; for this man in the Gospel, who had been dead four days, was asleep only in respect of Christ whose will it was to raise him again. But what said He? Observe the manner of his arising again. He came forth from the tomb alive, but he could not walk. And the Lord said to the disciples; Loose him, and let him go. He raised him from death, they loosed him from his bonds. Observe how there is something which appertains to the special Majesty of God who raises up. A man involved in an evil habit is rebuked by the word of truth. How many are rebuked, and give no ear! Who is it then who deals within with him who does give ear? Who breathes life into him within? Who is it who drives away the unseen death, gives the life unseen? After rebukes, after remonstrances, are not men left alone to their own thoughts, do they not begin to turn over in their minds how evil a life they are living, with how very bad a habit they are weighed down? Then displeased with themselves, they determine to change their life. Such have risen again; they to whom what they have been is displeasing have revived: but though reviving, they are not able to walk. These are the bands of their guilt. Need then there is, that whoever has returned to life should be loosed, and let go. This office has He given to the disciples to whom He said, Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven also.

7. Let us then, dearly Beloved, in such wise hear these things, that they who are alive may live; they who are dead may live again. Whether it be that as yet the sin has been conceived in the heart, and not come forth into open act; let the thought be repented of, and corrected, let the dead within the house of conscience arise. Or whether he has actually committed what he thought of; let not even thus his case be despaired of. The dead within has not arisen, let him arise when he is carried out. Let him repent him of his deed, let him at once return to life; let him not go to the depth of the grave, let him not receive the load of habit upon him. But perhaps I am now speaking to one who is already pressed down by this hard stone of his own habit, who is already laden with the weight of custom, who has been in the grave four days already, and who stinks. Yet let not even him despair; he is dead in the depth below, but Christ is exalted on high. He knows how by His cry to burst asunder the burdens of earth, He knows how to restore life within by Himself, and to deliver him to the disciples to be loosed. Let even such as these repent. For when Lazarus had been raised again after the four days, no foul smell remained in him when he was alive. So then let them who are alive, still live; and let them who are dead, whosoever they be, in which kind soever of these three deaths they find themselves, see to it that they rise again at once with all speed.

Sermon 49 on the New Testament

[XCIX. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Luke 7:37 , And behold, a woman who was in the city, a sinner, etc. On the remission of sins, against the Donatists.

1. Since I believe that it is the will of God that I should speak to you on the subject whereof we are now reminded by the words of the Lord out of the Holy Scriptures, I will by His assistance deliver to you, Beloved, a Sermon touching the remission of sins. For when the Gospel was being read, you gave most earnest heed, and the story was reported, and represented before the eyes of your heart. For you saw, not with the body, but with the mind, the Lord Jesus Christ sitting at meat in the Pharisee's house, and when invited by him, not disdaining to go. You saw too a woman famous in the city, famous indeed in ill fame, who was a sinner, without invitation force her way into the feast, where her Physician was at meat, and with an holy shamelessness seek for health. She forced her way then, as it were unseasonably as regarded the feast, but seasonably as regarded her expected blessing; for she well knew under how severe a disease she was labouring, and she knew that He to whom she had come was able to make her whole; she approached then, not to the Head of the Lord, but to His Feet; and she who had walked long in evil, sought now the steps of Uprightness. First she shed tears, the heart's blood; and washed the Lord's Feet with the duty of confession. She wiped them with her hair, she kissed, she anointed them: she spoke by her silence; she uttered not a word, but she manifested her devotion.

2. So then because she touched the Lord, in watering, kissing, washing, anointing His feet; the Pharisee who had invited the Lord Jesus Christ, seeing He was of that kind of proud men of whom the Prophet Isaiah says, Who say, Depart far from me, touch me not, for I am clean; thought that the Lord did not know the woman. This he was thinking with himself, and saying in his heart, This man if He were a prophet, would have known what woman this is that has approached His feet. He supposed that He did not know her, because He repelled her not, because He did not forbid her to approach Him, because He suffered Himself to be touched by her, sinner as she was. For whence knew he, that He did not know her? But what if He did know, O you Pharisee, inviter and yet derider of the Lord! Thou dost feed the Lord, yet by whom you are to be fed yourself, you do not understand. Whereby do you know, that the Lord did not know what that woman had been, save because she was permitted to approach Him, save because by His sufferance she kissed His Feet, save because she washed, save because she anointed them? For these things a woman unclean ought not to be permitted to do with the Feet that are clean? So then had such a woman approached that Pharisee's feet, he would have been sure to say what Isaiah says of such; Depart from me, touch me not, for I am clean. But she approached the Lord in her uncleanness, that she might return clean: she approached sick, that she might return whole: she approached Him, confessing, that she might return professing Him.

3. For the Lord heard the thoughts of the Pharisee. Let now the Pharisee understand even by this, whether He was not able to see her sins, who could hear his thoughts. So then He put forth to the man a parable concerning two men, who owed to the same creditor. For He was desirous to heal the Pharisee also, that He might not eat bread at his house for nought; He hungered after him who was feeding Him, He wished to reform him, to slay, to eat him, to pass him over into His Own Body; just as to that woman of Samaria, He said, I thirst. What is, I thirst? I long for your faith. Therefore are the words of the Lord in this parable spoken; and there is this double object in them, both that that inviter might be cured together with those who ate at the table with Him, who alike saw the Lord Jesus Christ, and were alike ignorant of Him, and that that woman might have the assurance her confession merited, and not be pricked any more with the stings of her conscience. One, said He, owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty; He forgave them both: which loved him most? He to whom the parable was proposed answered, what of course common reason obliged him to answer. I suppose, Lord, he to whom he forgave most. Then turning to the woman he said to Simon, Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, you gave Me no water for My feet: she has washed My feet with tears, and wiped them with her hairs. You gave Me no kiss: this woman since the time she came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. My head with oil you did not anoint: but this woman has anointed My feet with ointment. Therefore I say, her many sins are forgiven her, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.

4. Here arises a difficulty which must in real truth be resolved, and which requires your fixed attention, Beloved, lest haply my words may not be equal to the removing and clearing of the whole obscurity of it by reason of the stress of time; especially as this flesh of mine exhausted by its heat, now longs to be recruited, and demanding its due, and clogging the eagerness of the soul gives proof of that which is said, The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Cause there is for fear, yea great cause for fear, lest by these words of the Lord, there steal over the minds of those who understand them not aright, who indulge their fleshly lusts, and are loth to be brought away from them into liberty, that sentiment which, even as the Apostles preached, sprung up in the tongues of slanderous men, of whom the Apostle Paul says, And as some affirm that we say, Let us do evil that good may come. For a man may say, If 'he to whom little is forgiven, loves little;' and he to whom more is forgiven, loves more; and it is better to love more, than to love less; it is right that we should sin much, and owe much which we may desire to be forgiven us, that so we may love Him the more who forgives us our large debts. For that woman in the Gospel who was a sinner, in the same proportion as she owed more, loved the more Him who forgave her her debts, as the Lord Himself says, 'Her many sins are forgiven her, for she loved much.' Now why did she love much, but because she owed much? And afterwards He added and subjoined, 'But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.' Is it not better, he may say, that much should be forgiven me, than less, that thereupon I may love my Lord the more? You see no doubt the great depth of this difficulty; ye see it, I am sure. You see too my stress of time; yes, this also do ye see and feel.

5. Accept then a few words. If I shall not do justice to the magnitude of the question, lay up for a time what I shall say at present, and hold me a debtor for some future time. Suppose now two men, that by the clearer force of examples ye may think upon what I have proposed to you. One of them is full of sins, has lived most wickedly for a length of time; the other of them has committed but few sins; they come both to grace, are both baptized, they enter debtors, they go out free; more has been forgiven to one, less to the other. I ask, how much does each love? If I shall find that he loves most, to whom the most sins have been forgiven, it is to his greater advantage that he has sinned much, his much iniquity was to his greater advantage, that so his love might not be lukewarm. I ask the other how much he loves, I find less; for if I find that he too loves, as much as the other, to whom much has been forgiven, how shall I make answer to the words of the Lord, how shall that be true which the Truth has said, To whom little is forgiven, the same loves little? See, a man says, but little has been forgiven me, I have not sinned much; yet I love as much as he, to whom much has been forgiven. Do you speak truth, or Christ? Has your lie been forgiven you to this end, that you should fix the charge of lying on Him who forgave you? If little has been forgiven you, you love little. For if but little has been forgiven you, and you love very much, you contradict Him who said, To whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. Therefore I give the more credit to Him, who knows you better than you know yourself. If you suppose that but little has been forgiven you, it is certain that you love but little. What then, says he, ought I to do? Ought I to commit many sins, that there may be many which He shall be able to forgive me, that I may be able to love more? It presses me sore, but may the Lord, who has proposed this saying of truth to us, deliver me out of this strait.

6. This was spoken on account of that Pharisee who thought that he had either no sins, or but few. Now unless he had had some love, he would not have invited the Lord. But how little was it! He gave Him no kiss, not so much as water for His Feet, much less tears; he did not honour Him with any of those offices of respect, with which that woman did, who well knew what need she had of being cured, and by whom she might be cured. O Pharisee, therefore do you love but little, because you fondly think that but little is forgiven you; not because little really is forgiven you, but because you think that that which is forgiven is but little. What then? he says; Am I who have never committed murder, to be reckoned a murderer? Am I who have never been guilty of adultery, to be punished for adultery? Or are these things to be forgiven me, which I have never committed? See: once more suppose two persons, and let us speak to them. One comes with supplication, a sinner covered over with thorns as a hedgehog, and timid exceedingly as a hare. But the rock is the hedgehog's and the hare's refuge. He comes then to the Rock, he finds refuge, he receives succour. The other has not committed many sins; what shall we do for him that he may love much? What shall we persuade him? Shall we go against the words of the Lord, To whom little is forgiven, the same loves little? Yes, most truly so, to whom little is really forgiven. But O you who says that you have not committed many sins: why have you not? By whose guidance? God be thanked, that by your movement and voice you have made signs that you have understood me. Now then, as I think, the difficulty has been solved. The one has committed many sins, and so is made a debtor for many; the other through God's guidance has committed but few. To Him to whom the one ascribes what He has forgiven, does the other also ascribe what he has not committed. You have not been an adulterer in that past life of yours, which was full of ignorance, when as yet you were not enlightened, as yet discerned not good and evil, as yet believed not on Him, who was guiding you though you did not know Him. Thus does your God speak to you: I was guiding you for Myself, I was keeping you for Myself. That you might not commit adultery, no enticers were near you; that no enticers were near you, was My doing. Place and time were wanting; that they were wanting again, was My doing. Or enticers were near you, and neither place nor time was wanting; that you might not consent, it was I who alarmed you. Acknowledge then His grace, to whom you also owe it, that you have not committed the sin. The other owes me what was done, and you have seen forgiven him; and you owe to me what you have not done. For there is no sin which one man commits, which another man may not commit also, if He be wanting as a Director, by whom man was made.

7. Now then seeing I have resolved this profound difficulty, as best I could in so short a space of time (or if I have not resolved it yet, let me be held, as I have already said, a debtor for the rest); let us now rather consider briefly that question of the remission of sins. Christ was supposed to be but a man both by him who invited Him, and by them who sat as guests at the table with Him. But that woman who was a sinner had seen something more than this in the Lord. For why did she all those things, but that her sins might be forgiven her? She knew then that He was able to forgive sins; and they knew that no man was able to forgive them. And we must believe that they all, they who were at the table, that is, and that woman who approached to the Feet of the Lord, all knew that no man could forgive sins. Forasmuch then as they all knew this; she who believed that He could forgive sins, understood Him to be more than man. So when He had said to the woman, Your sins are forgiven you; they immediately said, Who is this that forgives sins also? Who is this, whom the woman who was a sinner already knew? Thou who sittest at the table as if in sound health, know not your Physician; because it may be through a stronger fever you have even lost your reason. For thus the frantic patient as he laughs is bewailed by those who are in health. Nevertheless, you do well to know, and hold fast that truth; yea, hold it fast, that no man is able to forgive sins. This woman who believed that she could be forgiven by Christ, believed Christ not to be man only, but God also. Who, say they, is this that forgives sins also? And the Lord did not tell them as they said, Who is this? It is the Son of God, the Word of God; He did not tell them this, but suffering them to abide for a while still in their former opinion, He really solved the question which had excited them. For He who saw them at the table, heard their thoughts, and turning to the woman, He said, Your faith has made you whole. Let these who say, Who is this that forgives sins also? who think me to be but a man, think me but a man. For you your faith has made you whole.

8. The Good Physician not only cured the sick then present, but provided also for them who were to be hereafter. There were to be men in after times, who should say, It is I who forgive sins, I who justify, I who sanctify, I who cure whomsoever I baptize. Of this number are they who say, Touch me not. Yes, so thoroughly are they of this number, that lately, in our conference, as you may read in the records of it, when a place was offered them by the commissary, that they should sit with us, they thought it right to answer, It is told us in Scripture with such not to sit, lest of course by the contact of the seats, our contagion (as they think) should reach to them. See if this is not, Touch me not, for I am clean. But on another day, when I had a better opportunity, I represented to them this most wretched vanity, when there was a question concerning the Church, how that the evil in it do not contaminate the good: I answered them, because they would not on this account sit with us, and said that they had been so advised by the Scripture of God, seeing forsooth that it is written, I have not sat in the council of vanity; I said, If you will not sit with us, because it is written, 'I have not sat in the council of vanity;' why have ye entered this place with us, since it is written in the following words, 'And with them that do iniquity I will not enter in'? So then in that they say, Touch me not, for I am clean, they are like to that Pharisee, who had invited the Lord, and who thought that He did not know the woman, simply because He did not hinder her from touching His Feet. But in another respect the Pharisee was better, because whereas he supposed Christ to be but a man, he did not believe that by a man sins could be forgiven. There was shown then a better understanding in Jews than heretics. What said the Jews? 'Who is this that forgives sins also?' Does any man dare to usurp this to himself? What on the other hand says the heretic? It is I who forgive, I cleanse, I sanctify. Let not me, but Christ, answer him: O man, when I was thought by the Jews to be but a man, I gave forgiveness of sins to faith. (It is not I, but Christ who answers you.) And you, O heretic, mere man as you are, dost say, Come, O woman, I will make you whole. Whereas when I was thought to be but a man, I said, Go, woman, your faith has made you whole.

9. They answer, knowing not, as the Apostle says, either what they speak, or whereof they affirm: they answer and say, If men do not forgive sins, then that is false which Christ says, 'Whatsoever you shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven also.' But you do not know why this is said, and in what sense this is said. The Lord was about to give to men the Holy Spirit, and He wished it to be understood that sins are forgiven to His faithful by His Holy Spirit, and not by men's deserts. For what are you, O man, but an invalid who hast need of healing. Would you make yourself my physician? Together with me, seek the Physician. For that the Lord might show this more plainly, that sins are forgiven by the Holy Spirit, which He has given to His faithful ones, and not by men's deserts, after He had risen from the dead, He says in a certain place, Receive the Holy Ghost; and when He had said, Receive the Holy Ghost, He subjoined immediately, Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; that is, the Spirit remits them, not ye. Now the Spirit is God. God therefore remits, not ye. But what are you in regard to the Spirit? Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you? And again, Do you not know that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God? So then God dwells in His holy temple, that is in His holy faithful ones, in His Church; by them does He remit sins; because they are living temples.

10. But He who remits by man, can also remit even without man. For He who is able to give by another, has no less the power to give by Himself. To some He gave by the ministry of John. By whom did He give to John himself? With good reason, as God wished to show this, and to attest this truth, when certain in Samaria had had the Gospel preached to them, and had been baptized, and baptized by Philip the Evangelist, one of the seven deacons that were first chosen, they did not receive the Holy Ghost, though they had been baptized. Tidings were brought to the disciples who were at Jerusalem, and they came to Samaria, in order that they who had been baptized, might by imposition of their hands receive the Holy Ghost. And so it was; They came and laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. For the Holy Ghost was at that time given in such sort, that He even visibly showed Himself to have been given. For they who received Him spoke with the tongues of all nations; to signify that the Church among the nations was to speak in the tongues of all. So then they received the Holy Ghost, and He appeared evidently to be in them. Which when Simon saw, supposing that this power was of men, he wished it might be his also. What he thought to be of men, he wished to buy of men. How much money, says he, will you take of me, that by imposition of my hands the Holy Ghost may be given? Then Peter says to him with execration, You have neither part nor lot in this faith. For you have thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Your money perish with you; and the rest which he spoke in the same place suitably to the occasion.

11. Now why I have wished to bring this subject before you, give heed, Dearly Beloved. It was meet that God should first show that He works by the ministry of men; but afterwards by Himself, lest men should think, as Simon thought, that it was man's gift, and not God's. Though the disciples themselves knew this well already. For there were one hundred and twenty men collected together, when without the imposition of any hand the Holy Ghost came upon them. For who had laid hands on them at that time? And yet He came, and filled them first. After that offense of Simon, what did God do? See Him teaching, not by words but by things. That same Philip, who had baptized the men, and the Holy Ghost had not come upon them, unless the Apostles had met together and laid their hands upon them, baptized the officer, that is, the eunuch of queen Candace, who had worshipped in Jerusalem, and returning thence was reading in his chariot Isaiah the Prophet, and understood it not. Philip being admonished went up to his chariot, explained the Scripture, unfolded the faith, preached Christ. The eunuch believed on Christ, and said when they came unto a certain water, See water, who does hinder me to be baptized? Philip said to him, Do you believe in Jesus Christ? He answered, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Immediately he went down with him into the water. When the mystery and sacrament of Baptism had been accomplished, that the gift of the Holy Ghost might not be thought to be of men, there was no waiting, as in the other case, for the Apostles to come, but the Holy Ghost came immediately. Thus was Simon's thought destroyed, lest in such a thought he might have followers.

12. Again, another more wonderful example. Peter came to Cornelius the centurion, to a Gentile man, uncircumcised: he began to preach Christ Jesus both to him, and to those who were with him. While Peter was yet speaking, I do not say, when as yet he had not laid on his hands, but when he had not even yet baptized them, and when they who were with Peter were in doubt whether the uncircumcised ought to be baptized (for there had arisen an offense between the Jews who believed, and those who had been brought to the faith from among the Gentiles, between the Jews, that is, and the Christians who were baptized though uncircumcised), that God might take away this question, while Peter was speaking, the Holy Ghost came, filled Cornelius, filled them who were with him. And by this very attestation of so great a thing, as it were a loud voice came to Peter, Why do you doubt of water? Already I am here.

13. So then let every soul which is to be delivered from her manifold wickedness by the grace of the Lord, to be cleansed as it were in the Church from her filthy prostitution, believe with all assurance, approach the Feet of the Lord, seek His Footsteps, confess in pouring out tears upon them, and wipe them with her hair. The Feet of the Lord are the preachers of the Gospel. The woman's hair is all superfluous possessions. Let her wipe the Feet with her hair, yea by all means wipe them, let her do works of mercy; and when she has wiped them, let her kiss them, let her receive peace, that she may have love. She has approached to such an one, has been baptized by such an one as the Apostle Paul: from him let her hear, Be followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. But she has been baptized by another, by one who seeks his own things, not the things which are Jesus Christ's: let her hear from the Lord, Do what they say, but do not what they do. So let her assurance be in Him, whether she meet with a good Evangelist, or with one who acts not as he speaks. For she hears from the Lord with firm assurance, O woman, go your way, your faith has made you whole.

Sermon 50 on the New Testament

[C. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Luke 9:57 , etc., where the case of the three persons is treated of, of whom one said, I will follow you wherever you go, and was disallowed: another did not dare to offer himself, and was aroused; the third wished to delay, and was blamed.

1. Give ye ear to that which the Lord has given me to speak on the lesson of the Gospel. For we have read, that the Lord Jesus acted differently, when one man offered himself to follow Him, and was disallowed; another did not dare this, and was aroused; a third put off, and was blamed. For the words, Lord, I will follow You wherever You go, what is so prompt, what so active, what so ready, and what so fitly disposed to so great a good, as this following the Lord wherever He should go? You wonder at this, saying, How is this, that one so ready found no favour with the Good Master and Lord Jesus Christ, though He was inviting disciples to give them the kingdom of Heaven? But inasmuch as He was such a Master as could see beforehand things to come, we understand, Brethren, that this man, if he had followed Christ, would have been sure to seek his own things, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. For He has said Himself, Not every one that says unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. And of such was this man, nor did he know himself so well as the Physician knew him. For if he saw himself to be a dissembler now, if he had known himself at this time to be full of duplicity and guile, then he did not know with Whom he was speaking. For He it is of whom the Evangelist says, He had no need that any one should testify to Him of man, for He Himself knew what was in man. What then did He answer? Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has not where to lay His Head. But where has He not? In your faith. For in your heart foxes have holes, you are full of guile; in your heart birds of the air have nests; you are lifted up. Full of guile and self-elation as you are, you shall not follow Me. How can a guileful man follow Simplicity?

2. And then immediately to another who was silent, and said nothing, and promised nothing, He says, Follow Me! As much evil as He saw in the other, so much good saw He in this man. Follow Me, You say to one who has no wish for it. Lo, here is a man quite ready, I will follow You wherever You go; and yet You say to another who has no such wish, Follow Me. The first, says He, I decline, because I see in him holes, I see nests. But then why dost Thou press this other, whom Thou dost challenge to follow You, and he makes excuses? Lo, Thou dost even force him, and he does not come; Thou dost exhort him, and he does not follow. For what does he say? 'I will go first to bury my father.' The faith of his heart showed itself to the Lord; but his dutiful affection made him delay. But the Lord Christ when He is preparing men for the Gospel, will have no excuse from this carnal and temporal affection interfere. It is true that both the law of God prescribes these duties, and the Lord Himself reproves the Jews, because they destroyed this very commandment of God. And the Apostle Paul has in his Epistle laid it down, and said, This is the first commandment with promise. What? Honour your father and your mother. God of a surety spoke it. This young man then wished to obey God, and to bury his father; but it is place, and time, and circumstance, which is in this case to give way to place, and time, and circumstance. A father must be honoured, but God must be obeyed. He that begot us must be loved, but He that created us must be preferred. I am calling you, says He, to My Gospel; I have need of you for another work: this is a greater work than that which you wish to be doing. 'Let the dead bury their dead.' Your father is dead: there are other dead men to bury the dead. Who are the dead who bury the dead? Can a dead man be buried by dead men? How can they lay him out, if they are dead? How can they carry him, if they are dead? How can they bewail him, if they are dead? Yet they do lay him out, and carry, and bewail him, and they are dead; because they are unbelievers. That which is written in the Song of Songs is a lesson to us, when the Church says, Set in order love in me. What is, Set in order love in me? Make the proper degrees, and render to each what is his due. Do not put what should come before, below that which should come after it. Love your parents, but prefer God to them. Mark the mother of the Maccabees, 'My sons, I know not how ye appeared in my womb.' Conceive you I could, give you birth I could; but 'form you I could not:' hear Him therefore, prefer Him to me: trouble not yourselves, that I must remain here without you. Thus she commanded them, and they followed her. What this mother taught her children, did the Lord Jesus Christ teach him to whom He said, Follow Me.

3. See now how another disciple presented himself, to whom no one said anything: he said, Lord, I will follow You, but I will first go to bid them farewell which are at my house. I suppose this is his meaning, Let me tell my friends, lest haply they seek me as usual. And the Lord said, No man putting his hand on the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. The East calls you, and you are looking toward the west. In this lesson we learn this, that the Lord chooses whom He will. But He chooses them, as the Apostle says, both according to His Own grace, and according to their righteousness. For such are the words of the Apostle; Attend, he says, to what Elias says: Lord, they have killed Your Prophets, they have overthrown Your altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what says the answer of God to him? I have reserved to Myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee before Baal. You think that you are the only servant who is working faithfully: there are others too who fear Me, and they not few. For I have seven thousand there. And then he added, Even so then at this present time also. For some Jews believed, though the most were reprobate; like him who carried holes for foxes in his heart. Even so then, says he, at this present time also, there is a remnant saved through the election of grace: that is, there is the same Christ even now, as then, who also then said to that Elias, I have reserved to Myself. What is, I have reserved to Myself? I have chosen them, because I saw their hearts that they trusted in Me, and not in themselves, nor in Baal. They are not changed, they are as they were made by Me. And you who are speaking, unless you had placed your trust in Me, where would you be? Unless you were replenished by My grace, would not you too be bowing the knee before Baal? But you are replenished by My grace; because you have not put your trust at all in your own strength, but wholly in My grace. Do not therefore glory in this, as to suppose you have no fellow-servants in your service; there are others whom I have chosen, as I have chosen you, those, namely, who put their trust in Me; as the Apostle says, Even now also a remnant is saved through the election of grace.

4. Beware, O Christian, beware of pride. For though you are a follower of the saints, ascribe it always wholly to grace; for that there should be any remnant in you, the grace of God has brought to pass, not your own deserts. For the Prophet Isaiah again having this remnant in view, had said already, Except the Lord of Hosts had left us a seed, we should have become as Sodom, and should have been like Gomorrha. So then, says the Apostle, at this present time also a remnant is saved through the election of grace. But if by grace, says he, then is it no more of works (that is, be now no more lifted up upon your own deserts); otherwise grace is no more grace. For if you build on your own work; then is a reward rendered unto you, not grace freely bestowed. But if it be grace, it is gratuitously given. I ask you then, O sinner, Do you believe in Christ? You say, I do believe. What do you believe? That all your sins may be forgiven you freely through Him? Then have you what you have believed. O grace gratuitously given! And you, righteous man, what do you believe, that you can not keep your righteousness without God? That you are righteous then, impute it wholly to His mercy; but that you are a sinner, ascribe it to your own iniquity. Be your own accuser, and He will be your gracious Deliverer. For every crime, wickedness, or sin comes of our own negligence, and all virtue and holiness come of God's gracious goodness. Let us turn to the Lord.

Sermon 51 on the New Testament

[CI. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Luke 10:2 , The harvest truly is plenteous, etc.

1. By the lesson of the Gospel which has just been read, we are reminded to search what that harvest is of which the Lord says, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few. Pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth labourers into His harvest. Then to His twelve disciples, whom He also named Apostles, He added other seventy-two, and sent them all, as appears from His words, to the harvest then ready. What then was that harvest? For that harvest was not among these Gentiles, among whom there had been nothing sown. It remains therefore that we understand that this harvest was among the people of the Jews. It was to that harvest that the Lord of the harvest came, to that harvest He sent reapers; but to the Gentiles He sent not reapers, but sowers. Understand we then that it was harvest among the people of the Jews, sowing time among the peoples of the Gentiles. For out of that harvest were the Apostles chosen, where now that the harvest was, the grain was already ripe; for there had the Prophets sown. Delightful it is to take a view of God's husbandry, and to feel delight in His gifts, and the labourers in His field. For in this husbandry did he labour, who said, I laboured more than they all. But the strength to labour was given him by the Lord of the harvest. Therefore he added, Yet it is not I, but the grace of God which is with me. For that he was employed in this husbandry he clearly enough shows, where he says, I have planted, Apollos watered. But this Apostle, from Saul, becoming Paul, that is, from being proud, the least of all (for the name of Saul is derived from Saul; but Paul is little; whence in a way interpreting his own name, he says, I am the least of the Apostles : this Paul I say, the little, and the least, sent unto the Gentiles, says that he was sent particularly to the Gentiles. He himself so writes, we read, believe, preach it. He then in his Epistle to the Galatians says, that having been now called by the Lord Jesus, he came to Jerusalem, and communicated the Gospel unto the Apostles, that their right hands were given to him, the sign of harmony, the sign of agreement, that what they had learned from him differed in no respect from them. Afterwards he says that it was agreed between him and them, that he should go to the Gentiles, and they unto the circumcision, he as a sower, they as reapers. So also with good reason, though they knew it not, did the Athenians give him his name. For as they heard the word from him, they said, Who is this sower of words?

2. Attend then and be it your delight with me to take a view of the husbandry of God and the two harvests in it, the one already past, the other yet to come; the one already past among the people of the Jews, the one yet to come among the peoples of the Gentiles. Let us prove this; and whereby, but by the Scripture of God, the Lord of the harvest? See we have it said there in this present lesson, The harvest is great, but the labourers are few. Pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth labourers into His harvest. But because in that harvest there were to be gainsaying and persecuting Jews, He says, Behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. Let us show something clearer still touching this harvest in the Gospel according to John, where the Lord sat as He was wearied at the well, great mysteries indeed were transacted, but the time is too short to treat of them all. But give ye ear to that which relates to the present subject. For we have undertaken to show a harvest among the people, among whom the Prophets preached; for therefore were they sowers, that the Apostles might be reapers. A woman of Samaria talks with the Lord Jesus, and when the Lord among other things had told her how God ought to be worshipped, she says, We know that Messias comes who is called Christ, and He will teach us all things. And the Lord says to her, I that speak with you am He. Believe what you hear; why do you make search for what you see? I that speak with you am He. But as to what she had said, We know that the Messias will come, whom Moses and the Prophets have announced, who is called Christ. The harvest was already in the ear. When it had yet to grow it had received the Prophets as sowers, now that it had come to ripeness it waited for the Apostles as reapers. Presently as she heard this she believed and left her water-pot, and ran in haste, and began to announce the Lord. The disciples at that time had gone to buy bread; who on their return found the Lord talking with the woman, and they marvelled. Yet did they not dare to say to Him, What or why talkest Thou with her? They had astonishment in themselves, they repressed their boldness in their heart. To this Samaritan woman then the Name of Christ was nothing new, she was already waiting for His coming, already did she believe that He would come. Whence had she believed it, if Moses had not sown? But hear this more expressly noted. The Lord then said to His disciples, You say that the summer is yet far distant, lift up your eyes, and see the fields white already to harvest And then He adds, Others have laboured, and you are entered into their labours. Abraham laboured, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, the Prophets laboured in sowing; at the Lord's coming the harvest was found ripe. The reapers sent with the scythe of the Gospel, carried the sheaves into the Lord's floor, where Stephen was to be threshed.

3. But here comes in that Paul, and he is sent to the Gentiles. And this he does not conceal in setting forth the grace, which he had specially and peculiarly received. For he says in his Scriptures, that he was sent to preach the Gospel where Christ had not been named. But because that first harvest was past already, and all the Jews who remained are no harvest, let us consider that harvest which we ourselves are. For it has been sown by Apostles and Prophets. The Lord Himself sowed it. For He was in the Apostles, seeing that Christ also Himself reaped it. For they are nothing without Him; He is perfect without them. For He says Himself to them, For without Me, you can do nothing. What then does Christ from henceforth sowing among the Gentiles say? A sower went out to sow. There are reapers sent out to reap, here an unwearied sower went out to sow. For what fear did it cause him, that some seed fell on the way side, and some on rocky places, and some among thorns? If he had been afraid of these unmanageable grounds, he would never have got to the good ground. What is it to us, what affair of ours is it to be disputing now of the Jews, and talking of the chaff? This only concerns us, that we be not the way side, nor the rock, nor the thorns, but the good ground. Be our heart well-prepared, that from it may come the thirty, or the sixty fold, or the thousand, and the hundred fold; some more, some less; but all is wheat. Let it not be the way side, where the enemy as a bird may take away the seed trodden down by the passers by. Let it not be the rock, where the shallow soil makes it spring up immediately, so that it cannot bear the sun. Let it not be the thorns, the lusts of this world, the anxieties of an ill-ordered life. For what is worse than that anxiety of life, which does not suffer one to attain unto Life? What more miserable, than by caring for life, to lose Life? What more unhappy, than by fearing death, to fall into death? Let the thorns be rooted up, the field prepared, the seeds put in, let them grow unto the harvest, let the barn be longed for, not the fire feared.

4. My place accordingly it is, whom with all my unworthiness the Lord has appointed to be a labourer in His field, to say these things to you, to sow, to plant, to water, yea to dig round about some trees, and to apply the basket of dung; belongs it to me to do these things faithfully; to you to receive them faithfully; to the Lord to aid me in my labour, and you in your belief, all of us labouring, but in Him overcoming the world. What then belongs to your place I have already said; now I wish to say what belongs to ours. But perhaps it seems to some of you, that it is something superfluous which I have declared that I wish to say, and speaking within themselves they are saying in thought, O that he would now let us go! He has said already what belongs to our place, as to that which belongs to his, what is that to us? I think it is better that in a reciprocal and mutual love, we should belong to you. You are now indeed of one family, we of the same family are dispensers, it is true, but we all belong to one Lord. Nor what I give, do I give of my own; but of His from whom I also receive. For if I should give of my own, I shall give a lie. For he that speaks a lie, speaks of his own. So then ye ought to give ear to that which belongs to the duty of the dispenser, whether it be that you may have joy in yourselves, if you find yourselves to be such, or whether it be that you may be even in this very thing instructed. For how many are there among this people who shall some day be dispensers! I too was once where ye now are; and I who am seen now to be measuring out to my fellowservants their food from this higher place, a few years since in a lower place was receiving food with my fellow-servants. I am speaking now a Bishop to lay-men; but I know that in speaking to them I am speaking to many who will some day be bishops also.

5. Let us see then how we must understand what the Lord enjoined on them whom He sent to preach the Gospel, and let us consider in our mind this prepared harvest. Carry, He says, neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes; and salute no man by the way. And into whatsoever house ye enter, say, Peace be to this house. If the Son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it; if not, it shall return to you again. If it has rested, has the other lost it? This be far from the mind of Saints! So then this is not to be taken in a carnal sense; and hence it may be neither are the purse, nor shoes, nor scrip; nor above all that, where if we take it simply without examination, pride seems to be enjoined us, that we salute no man by the way.

6. Let us give heed to our Lord, our True Example and Succour. Let us prove that He is our Succour; Without Me ye can do nothing. Let us prove that He is our Example; Christ, says Peter, suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow His steps. Our Lord Himself had bags in the way, and these bags He entrusted to Judas. It is true He suffered from the thief; but I as desiring to learn of my Lord say, O Lord, You suffered from the thief, whence had Thou that of which he could take away? Me, a wretched and infirm man You have admonished not even to carry a purse; You carried bags, and had that in which You could suffer from the thief. If You had not carried them, neither could he have found anything to take away. What remains, but that he here says to me, Understand what that you hear, 'Carry no purse,' means? What is a purse? Money shut up, that is, concealed wisdom. What is, 'Carry no purse? Be not wise within your own selves only. Receive the Holy Ghost.' It should be a fountain in you, not a purse; from whence distribution is made to others, not where it is itself shut in. And the scrip is the same as the purse.

7. What are the shoes? The shoes which we use, are the skins of dead beasts, the coverings of our feet. By this then are we bidden to renounce dead works. This Moses was admonished of in a figure, when the Lord speaking to him said, Loose your shoes from off your feet; for the place wherein you stand is holy ground. What ground is so holy as the Church of God? In it therefore let us stand, let us loose our shoes, let us, that is, renounce dead works. For as touching these shoes, wherewith we walk, the same my Lord again assures me. For if He had not been shod Himself, John would not have said of Him, I am not worthy to unloose the latchet of His shoes. Be there obedience then, let not a haughty severity steal over us. I, says one, fulfil the Gospel, because I walk with naked feet. Well, you can do it, I cannot. But let us both keep that which we both receive together. How? Let us glow with charity, let us love one another; and so it shall be, that I will love your strength, and you shall bear my weakness.

8. But what do you think, who dost not choose to understand in what sense these words are used, and who art forced by your perverse interpretation to slander even the Lord Himself as to the bags and shoes; what do you think? Does it please you then, that as we meet our friends in the way, we should neither pay them our salutations if they are our betters, nor return the salutations of our inferiors? What, do you fulfil the Gospel, because you are saluted, and art silent? But thus you will not be like to the traveller going on the way, but to the milestone pointing out the way. Let us then lay aside this coarse interpretation, and understand aright the words of the Lord, and salute no man by the way. For it is not without a cause that we are enjoined this, nor would He mislike us to do what He enjoined. What then is, Salute no man by the way? It might indeed be even simply taken thus, that He has commanded us to do what He enjoins with all speed; and that His words Salute no man by the way, are as though He had said, Put all other things by, till ye accomplish what has been enjoined you; according to that style of speaking by which expressions are wont to be exaggerated in the custom of conversation. Nor need we go far; in the same discourse a little while afterwards He says, And you, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shall be thrust down to hell. What is, exalted to heaven? Did the walls of that city touch the clouds, or reach to the stars? But what is exalted to heaven? Thou seemest yourself to be surpassing happy, surpassing powerful, you are exceeding proud. As then for the sake of exaggeration this was said, You are exalted unto heaven to that city, which was not exalted, nor rose up unto heaven; so to express haste hyperbolically was it said, So run, so do what I have enjoined you, that travellers by the way may not in the least retard you; but disregarding all things else, hasten to the end set before you.

9. But there is another more recondite meaning in these words which it is not difficult to understand, which respects more particularly myself and all dispensers, and you too who are hearers. He that salutes, wishes salvation. For so the ancients in their letters wrote thus, Such a one sends salvation to another. Salutation derives its name from this salvation. What then is, Salute no man by the way? They who salute by the way, do so by occasion. I see that you have quickly understood me, yet for all that I must not finish yet. For you have not all understood so quickly. I have seen that some understand by their voice, I see more asking for something further by their silence. But seeing that we are talking of the way, let us walk as it were in the way: ye quick ones, wait for the slow, and walk evenly. What then did I say, He who salutes by the way, salutes only by occasion? He was not going to him whom he salutes. He was about one thing, another came in his way; he was seeking one thing, he found across his path some other thing to do. What then is it to salute by occasion? By occasion to announce salvation. Now what else is it to announce salvation, but to preach the Gospel? If then you preach, do it by love, and not by occasion. There are men then, who though they seek their own things, yet preach no other Gospel; of whom the Apostle says with sighing, For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. And these saluted, that is announced salvation, they preached the Gospel; but they sought some other thing, and therefore they saluted only by occasion. And what is this? If you are such an one, whosoever you are, you do it; nay not all of you who do it are such, but it may be that some of you who do it are. But if you are such, it is not that you do it, but it is done by you.

10. For such as these did the Apostle suffer; yet did he not enjoin them so to be. And these do something, or something is done by them; they seek something else, yet they preach the word. Care not what the preacher seeks after; be it your will to hold fast what he preaches; but let his intention be no concern of yours. Hear the word of salvation from his mouth, from his mouth hold fast this salvation. Be not the judge of his heart. If you see that he is seeking after other things, what is that to you? Hear Him who is Salvation; What they say, do. He has given you assurance who has said, What they say, do. Do they evil? Do not what they do. Do they good. They do not salute by the way, they do not preach the Gospel by occasion; be ye followers of them, even as they also are of Christ. A good man preaches to you; pluck the grape from the vine. A bad man preaches to you, pluck the grape as it hangs in the hedge. The cluster has grown on the vine-branch entangled among the thorns, but it has not grown from the thorns. By all means when you see any such thing as this and art hungry, be careful as you pluck it, lest when you put forth your hand to the grape, you be torn by the thorns. This is what I say; in such wise hear what is good, as that you imitate not the evil of the character. Let him preach by occasion, salute by the way; it will injure him because he has not given ear to the precept of Christ, Salute no man by the way; it will not injure you, who, whether you hear of salvation from a passer by, or from one who comes direct to you, dost hold fast that salvation. Hear the Apostle, who as I have said already gives us to understand this. What then? So that in every way, whether by occasion or in truth, Christ is preached; and herein I do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer.

11. Let then such as these, the Apostles of Christ, the preachers of the Gospel, who salute not by the way, that is, who do not seek or do any other thing, but who in genuine charity preach the Gospel, let them come into the house, and say, Peace to this house. They speak not with the mouth only; they pour out that of which they are full; they preach peace, and they have peace. They are not as those of whom it was said, Peace, Peace, and there is no peace. What is, Peace, Peace, and there is no peace? They preach it, but they have it not; they praise it and they love it not; they say, and do not. But yet do you receive the peace, whether by occasion or in truth Christ be preached. Whoever then is full of peace, and salutes, saying, Peace to this house, if the son of peace be there, his peace shall rest upon him; if not, for perhaps there is no one of peace there, yet he who saluted has lost nothing, it shall return, says he, to you again. It shall return to you, though it never departed from you. For this He would mean to say, It profits you that you have declared it, it has not profited him at all who has not received it; you have not lost your reward, because he has remained empty; it is rendered you for your good will, it is rendered you for the charity which you have bestowed, He will render it to you who has given you assurance of it by that Angelic voice, Peace on earth to men of good will.

Sermon 52 on the New Testament

[CII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Luke 10:16 , He that rejects you rejects me.

1. What our Lord Jesus Christ at that time spoke to His disciples was put in writing, and prepared for us to hear. And so we have heard His words. For what profit would it be to us if He were seen, and were not heard? And now it is no hurt, that He is not seen, and yet is heard. He says then, He that despises you, despises Me. If to the Apostles only He said, He that despises you, despises Me; do ye despise us. But if His word reach to us, and He has called us, and set us in their place, see that you despise not us, lest the wrong you shall do unto us reach to Him. For if you fear not us, fear Him who said, He that despises you, despises Me. But why do we, who are unwilling to be despised by you, speak to you, except that we may have joy of your good conversation? Let your good works be the solace of our perils. Live well, that you may not die ill.

2. And in these words which I have spoken, Live well, that you may not die ill, do not think of those who it may be have lived evilly, and have died in their beds; and the pomp of their funeral has been displayed, and they have been laid in costly coffins, in sepulchres prepared with exceeding beauty and labour; nor because each one of you perhaps is saying, I should wish so to die, do ye think that it is a vain thing I have chosen to say; when I said that I would that you should live well, that you may not die ill? On the other hand, the case of some one, it may be, occurs to you, who has both lived well, and according to the opinion of men has died ill; perhaps he has died from the fall of a house, has died by shipwreck, has died by wild beasts; and each carnal man is saying in his heart, What good is it to live well? See this man has so lived, and in this wise has he died. Return therefore to your heart; and if you are faithful ones, you will find Christ there; He speaks to you there. For I cry aloud, but He in silence gives more instruction. I speak by the sound of words; He speaks within by the fear of the thoughts. May He then engraft my word in your heart; for I have taken upon me to say, Live well, that you may not die ill. See, for faith is in your hearts, and Christ dwells there, and it is His place to teach what I desire to give utterance to.

3. Remember that rich and that poor man in the Gospel; the rich man clothed in purple and fine linen, and crammed with daily feastings; and the poor man lying before the rich man's gate, hungry, and looking for the crumbs from his table, full of sores, licked by dogs. Remember, I say; and whence do ye remember, but because Christ is there in your hearts? Tell me, what have ye asked Him within, and what has He answered. For he goes on to say, It came to pass that that poor man died, and was carried by the Angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried in hell. And being in torments he lifted up his eyes, and saw Lazarus resting in Abraham's bosom. Then he cried, saying, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip his finger in water, and drop it on my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. Proud in the world, in hell a beggar! For that poor man did attain to his crumbs; but the other attained not to the drop of water. Of these two then, tell me, which died well, and which died ill? Do not ask the eyes, return to the heart. For if you ask the eyes, they will answer you falsely. For vastly splendid, and disguised with much worldly show, are the honours which could be paid to that rich man in his death. What crowds of mourning slaves and handmaids might there be! What pompous train of dependants! What splendid funeral obsequies! What costliness of burial! I suppose he was overwhelmed with spices. What shall we say then, Brethren, that he died well, or died ill? If you ask the eyes, he died very well; if you enquire of your inner Master, he died most ill.

4. If then those haughty men who keep their own goods to themselves, and bestow none of them upon the poor, die in this way; how do they die who plunder the goods of others? Therefore have I said with true reason, Live well, that you die not ill, that you die not as that rich man died. Nothing proves an evil death, but the time after death. On the other hand, look at that poor man; not with the eyes, for so you will err; let faith look at him, let the heart see him. Set him before your eyes lying on the ground, full of sores, and the dogs coming and licking his sores. Now when you recall him before your eyes in this guise, immediately ye loathe him, you turn your face away, and stop your nostrils: see then with the eyes of the heart. He died, and was carried by the Angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man's family was seen bewailing him; the Angels were not seen rejoicing. What then did Abraham answer the rich man? Son, remember that you in your lifetime received good things. You thought nothing good, but what you had in this life. You have received them; but those days are past; and you have lost the whole; and you have remained behind to be tormented in hell.

5. Opportune then was it, Brethren, that those words should be spoken to you. Have respect unto the poor, whether lying on the ground, or walking; have respect unto the poor, do good works. You who are wont so to do, do it still and you who are not wont to do so, do it now. Let the number of those who do good works increase; since the number of the faithful increases also. You do not yet see how great is the good ye do; for so the husbandman also sees not the crop when he sows, but he trusts the ground. Wherefore do you not trust God? Our harvest will come. Think, that we are busy in travail now, are working in travail now, but sure to receive, as it is written, They went on and wept as they cast their seed; but they shall surely come with exultation, bringing their sheaves with them.

Sermon 53 on the New Testament

[CIII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Luke 10:38 , And a certain woman named Martha received him into her house, etc.

1. The words of our Lord Jesus Christ which have just been read out of the Gospel, give us to understand, that there is some one thing for which we must be making, when we toil amid the manifold engagements of this life. Now we make for this as being yet in pilgrimage, and not in our abiding place; as yet in the way, not yet in our country; as yet in longing, not yet in enjoyment. Yet let us make for it, and that without sloth and without intermission, that we may some time be able to reach it.

2. Martha and Mary were two sisters, true kinswomen both, not only in blood, but in religion also; both clave to the Lord, both with one heart served the Lord when He was present in the flesh. Martha received Him, as strangers are usually received. Yet it was the handmaid received her Lord, the sick her Saviour, the creature her Creator. And she received Him to be fed in the body, herself to be fed in spirit. For the Lord was pleased to take on Him the form of a servant, and having taken the form of a servant in it to be fed by servants, by reason of His condescension, not His condition. For this truly was condescension, to allow Himself to be fed by others. He had a body, wherein He might hunger indeed and thirst; but do ye not know that when He hungered in the wilderness Angels ministered to Him? So then, in that He was pleased to be fed, He showed favour to them that fed Him. And what marvel is this, seeing He showed this same favour to the widow as touching the Holy Elias, whom He had before fed by the ministry of a raven? Did He fail in His power of feeding him, when He sent him to the widow? By no means. He did not fail in His power of feeding him, when He sent him to the widow; but He designed to bless the religious widow, by means of her pious office paid to His servant. Thus then was the Lord received as a , who came unto His own, and His own received Him not: but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God: adopting servants, and making them brethren; redeeming captives, and making them co-heirs. Yet let none of you, as perhaps may be the case, say, O blessed they who obtained the grace to receive Christ into their own house! Do not grieve, do not murmur, that you were born in times when you see the Lord no more in the flesh; He has not taken this blessedness from you. Forasmuch, says He, as you have done it unto the least of Mine, you have done unto Me.

3. These few words, as the shortness of the time allowed me, would I speak concerning the Lord who was pleased to be fed in the flesh, while He feeds in the spirit: let us now come to the subject which I have proposed concerning unity. Martha, who was arranging and preparing to feed the Lord, was occupied about much serving. Mary her sister chose rather to be fed by the Lord. She in a manner deserted her sister who was toiling about much serving, and she sat herself at the Lord's feet, and in stillness heard His word. Her most faithful ear had heard already; Be still, and see that I am the Lord. Martha was troubled, Mary was feasting; the one was arranging many things, the other had her eyes upon the One. Both occupations were good; but yet as to which was the better, what shall we say? We have One whom we may ask, let us give ear together. Which was the better, we heard now when the lesson was read, and let us hear again as I repeat it. Martha appeals to her Guest, lays the request of her pious complaints before the Judge, that her sister had deserted her, and neglected to assist her when she was so busied in her serving. Without any answer from Mary, yet in her presence, the Lord gives judgment. Mary preferred as in repose to commit her cause to the Judge, and had no mind to busy herself in making answer. For if she were to be getting ready words to answer, she must remit her earnest attention to hear. Therefore the Lord answered, who was in no difficulty for words, in that He was the Word. What then did He say? Martha, Martha. The repetition of the name is a token of love, or perhaps of exciting attention; she is named twice, that she might give the more attentive heed. Martha, Martha, hear: You are occupied about many things: but one thing is needful; for so means unum opus est, not one work, that is, one single work, but one is needful, is expedient, is necessary, which one thing Mary had chosen.

4. Consider, Brethren, this one thing, and see if even in multitude itself anything pleases, but this oneness. See how great a number, through God's mercy, you are: who could bear you, if you did not mind one thing? Whence in this many is this quiet? Give oneness, and it is a people; take oneness away, and it is a crowd. For what is a crowd, but a disordered multitude? But give ear to the Apostle: Now I beseech you, brethren. He was speaking to a multitude; but he wished to make them all one. Now I beseech you, brethren, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you; but that you be perfected in the same mind, and in the same knowledge. And in another place, That ye be of one mind, thinking one thing, doing nothing through strife or vainglory. And the Lord prays to the Father touching them that are His: that they may be one even as We are One. And in the Acts of the Apostles; And the multitude of them that believed were of one soul, and of one heart. Therefore, Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His Name in one together. For one thing is necessary, that celestial Oneness, the Oneness in which the Father, and the Son, and Holy Spirit are One. See how the praise of Unity is commended to us. Undoubtedly our God is Trinity. The Father is not the Son the Son is not the Father, the Holy Spirit is neither the Father, nor the Son, but the Spirit of both; and yet these Three are not Three Gods, nor Three Almighties; but One God, Almighty, the whole Trinity is one God; because One thing is necessary. To this one thing nothing brings us, except being many we have one heart.

5. Good are ministrations done to the poor, and especially the due services and the religious offices done to the saints of God. For they are a payment, not a gift, as the Apostle says, If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? Good are they, we exhort you to them, yea by the word of the Lord we build you up, be not slow to entertain the saints. Sometimes, they who were not aware of it, by entertaining those whom they knew not, have entertained angels. These things are good; yet better is that thing which Mary has chosen. For the one thing has manifold trouble from necessity; the other has sweetness from charity. A man wishes when he is serving, to meet with something; and sometimes he is not able: that which is lacking is sought for, that which is at hand is got ready; and the mind is distracted. For if Martha had been sufficient for these things, she would not have demanded her sister's help. These things are manifold, are diverse, because they are carnal, because they are temporal; good though they be, they are transitory. But what said theLord to Martha? Mary has chosen that better part. Not you a bad, but she a better. Hear, how better; which shall not be taken away from her. Some time or other, the burden of these necessary duties shall be taken from you: the sweetness of truth is everlasting. That which she has chosen shall not be taken away from her. It is not taken away, but yet it is increased. In this life, that is, is it increased, in the other life it will be perfected, never shall it be taken away.

6. Yea, Martha, blessed in your good serving, even you (with your leave would I say it) seekest this reward for all your labour — quiet. Now you are occupied about much serving, you have pleasure in feeding bodies which are mortal, though they be the bodies of Saints; but when you shall have got to that country, will you find there any stranger whom you may receive into your house? Will you find the hungry, to whom you may break your bread? Or the thirsty, to whom you may hold out your cup? The sick whom you may visit? The litigious, whom you may set at one? The dead, whom you may bury? None of all these will be there, but what will be there? What Mary has chosen; there shall we be fed, and shall not feed others. Therefore there will that be in fullness and perfection which Mary has chosen here; from that rich table, from the word of the Lord did she gather up some crumbs. For would ye know what will be there? The Lord Himself says of His servants: Verily I say unto you, that He will make them to sit down to meat, and will pass by and serve them. What is to sit down to meat, but to be still? What is, to sit down to meat, but to rest? What is, He will pass by and serve them? First, He passes by, and so serves. And where? In that heavenly Banquet, of which he says, Verily I say unto you, Many shall come from the East and West, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. There will the Lord feed us, but first He passes on from hence. For (as you should know) the Pasch is by interpretation Passing-over. The Lord came, He did divine things, He suffered human things. Is He still spit upon? Is He still struck with the palm of the hand? Is He still crowned with thorns? Is He still scourged? Is He still crucified? Is He still wounded with a spear? He has passed by. And so too the Gospel tells us, when He kept the Paschal feast with His disciples. What says the Gospel? But when the hour had come that Jesus should pass out of this world unto the Father. Therefore did He pass, that He might feed us; let us follow, that we may be fed.

Sermon 54 on the New Testament

[CIV. Ben.]

Again, on the words of the Gospel, Luke 10:38 , etc., about Martha and Mary.

1. When the holy Gospel was being read, we heard that the Lord was received by a religious woman into her house, and her name was Martha. And while she was occupied in the care of serving, her sister Mary was sitting at the Lord's Feet, and hearing His Word. The one was busy, the other was still; one was giving out, the other was being filled. Yet Martha, all busy as she was in that occupation and toil of serving, appealed to the Lord, and complained of her sister, that she did not help her in her labour. But the Lord answered Martha for Mary; and He became her Advocate, who had been appealed to as Judge. Martha, He says, you are occupied about many things, when one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part, which shall not be taken from her. For we have heard both the appeal of the appellant, and the sentence of the Judge. Which sentence answered the appellant, defended the other's cause. For Mary was intent on the sweetness of the Lord's word. Martha was intent, how she might feed the Lord; Mary intent how she might be fed by the Lord. By Martha a feast was being prepared for the Lord, in whose feast Mary was even now delighting herself. As Mary then was listening with sweet pleasure to His most sweet word, and was feeding with the most earnest affection, when the Lord was appealed to by her sister, how, think we, did she fear, lest the Lord should say to her, Rise and help your sister? For by a wondrous sweetness was she held; a sweetness of the mind which is doubtless greater than that of the senses. She was excused, she sat in greater confidence. And how excused? Let us consider, examine, investigate it thoroughly as we can, that we may be fed also.

2. For what, do we imagine that Martha's serving was blamed, whom the cares of hospitality had engaged, who had received the Lord Himself into her house? How could she be rightly blamed, who was gladdened by so great a ? If this be true, let men give over their ministrations to the needy; let them choose for themselves the better part, which shall not be taken from them; let them give themselves wholly to the word, let them long after the sweetness of doctrine; be occupied about the saving knowledge; let it be no care to them, what stranger is in the street, who there is that wants bread, or clothing, or to be visited, to be redeemed, to be buried; let works of mercy cease, earnest heed be given to knowledge only. If this be the better part, why do not all do this, when we have the Lord Himself for our defender in this behalf? For we do not fear in this matter, lest we should offend His justice, when we have the support of His judgment.

3. And yet it is not so; but as the Lord spoke so it is. It is not as you understand, but it is as you ought to understand it. So mark; You are occupied about many things, when one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the better part. You have not chosen a bad part; but she a better. And how better? Because you are about many things, she about one thing. One is preferred to many. For one does not come from many, but many from one.

The things which were made, are many, He who made them is One. The heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that in them are, how many are they! Who could enumerate them? Who conceive their vast number? Who made all these? God made them all. Behold, they are very good. Very good are the things He made; how much better is He who made them! Let us consider then our occupations about many things. Much serving is necessary for the refreshment of our bodies. Wherefore is this? Because we hunger, and thirst. Mercy is necessary for the miserable. Thou breakest bread to the hungry; because you have found an hungry man; take hunger away; to whom do you break bread? Take houseless wandering away; to whom do you show hospitality? Take nakedness away; to whom do you furnish clothes? Let there be no sickness; whom do you visit? No captivity; whom do you redeem? No quarrelling; whom do you reconcile? No death; whom do you bury? In that world to come, these evils will not be; therefore these services will not be either. Well then did Martha, as touching the bodily — what shall I call it, want, or will, of the Lord? — minister to His mortal flesh. But who was He in that mortal flesh? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God: see what Mary was listening to! The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us: see to whom Martha was ministering! Therefore has Mary chosen the better part, which shall not be taken from her. For she chose that which shall abide for ever; it shall not be taken from her. She wished to be occupied about one thing. She understood already, But it is good for me to cleave to the Lord. She sat at the feet of our Head. The more lowlily she sat, the more amply did she receive. For the water flows together to the low hollows of the valley, runs down from the risings of the hill. The Lord then did not blame Martha's work, but distinguished between their services. You are occupied about many things; yet one thing is needful. Already has Mary chosen this for herself. The labour of manifoldness passes away, and the love of unity abides. Therefore what she has chosen, shall not be taken from her. But from you, that which you have chosen (of course this follows, of course this is understood) from you, that which you have chosen shall be taken away. But to your blessedness shall it be taken away, that that which is better may be given. For labour shall be taken away from you, that rest may be given. You are still on the sea, she is already in port.

4. You see then, dearly Beloved, and, as I suppose, you understand already, that in these two women, who were both well pleasing to the Lord, both objects of His love, both disciples; ye see, I say (and an important thing it is which whosoever understand, understand hereby, a thing which, even those of you who do not understand ought to give ear to, and to know), that in these two women the two lives are figured, the life present, and the life to come, the life of labour, and the life of quiet, the life of sorrow, and the life of blessedness, the life temporal, and the life eternal. These are the two lives: do ye think of them more fully. What this life contains, I speak not of a life of evil, or iniquity, or wickedness, or luxuriousness, or ungodliness; but of labour, and full of sorrows, by fears subdued, by temptations disquieted: even this harmless life I mean, such as was suitable for Martha: this life I say, examine as best ye can; and as I have said, think of it more fully than I speak. But a wicked life was far from that house, and was neither with Martha nor with Mary; and if it ever had been, it fled at the Lord's entrance. There remained then in that house, which had received the Lord, in the two women the two lives, both harmless, both praiseworthy; the one of labour, the other of ease; neither vicious, neither slothful. Both harmless, both, I say, praiseworthy: but one of labour, the other of ease: neither vicious, which the life of labour must beware of; neither slothful, which the life of ease must beware of. There were then in that house these two lives, and Himself, the Fountain of life. In Martha was the image of things present, in Mary of things to come. What Martha was doing, that we are now; what Mary was doing, that we hope for. Let us do the first well, that we may have the second fully. For what of it have we now? How far have we it? As long as we are here, how much of it is there that we have? For in some measure are we employed in it now, and you too when removed from business, and laying aside domestic cares, you meet together, stand, listen. In so far as you do this, you are like Mary. And with greater facility do ye do that which Mary does, than I who have to distribute. Yet if I say ought, it is Christ's; therefore does it feed you, because it is Christ's. For the Bread is common to us all, of which I too live as well as you. But now we live, if you, Brethren, stand fast in the Lord. I would not that you should stand fast in us, but in the Lord. For neither is he that plants anything, neither he that waters; but God that gives the increase.

Sermon 55 on the New Testament

[CV. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Luke 11:5 , Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, etc.

1. We have heard our Lord, the Heavenly Master, and most faithful Counsellor exhorting us, who at once exhorts us to ask, and gives when we ask. We have heard Him in the Gospel exhorting us to ask instantly, and to knock even after the likeness of intrusive importunity. For He has set before us, for the sake of example, If any of you had a friend, and were to ask of him at night for three loaves, when a friend out of his way had come to him, and he had nothing to set before him; and he were to answer that he was now at rest, and his servants with him, and that he must not be disturbed by his entreaties; but the other were to be instant and persevering in knocking, and not being alarmed in modesty to depart, but compelled by necessity to continue on; that he would rise, though not for friendship's sake, at least for the other's importunity, and would give him as many as he wished. And how many did he wish? He wished for no more than three. To this parable then, the Lord adjoined an exhortation, and urged us earnestly to ask, seek, knock, till we receive what we ask, and seek, and knock for, making use of an example from a contrary case; as of that judge who neither feared God, nor regarded man, and yet when a certain widow besought him day by day, overcome by her importunity, he gave her that which he could not in kindness give her, against his will. But our Lord Jesus Christ, who is in the midst of us a Petitioner, with God a Giver, would not surely exhort us so strongly to ask, if He were not willing to give. Let then the slothfulness of men be put to shame; He is more willing to give, than we to receive; He is more willing to show mercy, than we to be delivered from misery; and doubtless if we shall not be delivered, we shall abide in misery. For the exhortation He gives us, He gives only for our own sakes.

2. Let us awake, and believe Him who exhorts us, obey Him who promises us, and rejoice in Him who gives unto us. For perhaps, some time or other some friend out of his way has come to us too, and we have found nothing to set before him; and under the experience of this necessity, we have received both for ourselves and him. For it cannot be, but that some one of us has fallen in with a friend who asked him something, which he could not answer; and then he has discovered that he has it not, when he is pressed to give it. A friend has come to you out of the way, out, that is, of the life of this world, in which all men are passing along as strangers, and no one abides here as possessor; but to every man it is said, You have been refreshed, pass on, go on your way, give place to the next comer. Or perhaps from an evil way, that is, from an evil life, some friend of yours wearied out, and not finding the truth, by the hearing and perceiving of which he may be made happy, but exhausted amid all the lust and poverty of the world, comes to you, as to a Christian, and says, Give me an account of this, make me a Christian. And he asks what it may be you did not know through the simplicity of your faith; and so you have not whereby to recruit him in his hunger, and reminded thus you discover your own indigence; and when you wish to teach you are forced to learn; and while you blush before him who asked you, as not finding in yourself what he was seeking for, you are compelled to seek, that you may be thought worthy to find.

3. And where should you seek. Where but in the books of the Lord? Peradventure what he has asked is contained in the book, but it is obscure. Perhaps the Apostle has declared it in some Epistle: declared it in such wise, that you can read, but cannot understand it: you are not permitted to pass on. For the interrogator urges you; Paul himself, or Peter, or any of the Prophets you are not allowed to ask. For this family is now at rest with their Lord, and intense is the ignorance of this life, that is, it is midnight, and your hungry friend is urgent upon you. A simple faith haply sufficed you, him it suffices not. Is he then to be abandoned? Is he to be cast out of your house? Therefore unto the Lord Himself, unto Him with whom the family is at rest, knock by prayer, ask, be instant. He will not, as that friend in the parable, arise and give you as overcome by importunity. He wishes to give; you for your knocking hast not yet received; knock on; He wishes to give. And what He wishes to give, He defers, that you may long the more for it when deferred, lest if given quickly it should be lightly esteemed.

4. But when you have gotten the three loaves, that is, to feed on and understand the Trinity, you have that whereby you may both live yourself, and feed others. Now you need not fear the stranger who comes out of his way to you, but by taking him in may make him a citizen of the household: nor do you need fear lest you come to the end of it. That Bread will not come to an end, but it will put an end to your indigence. It is Bread, God the Father, and it is Bread, God the Son, and it is Bread, God the Holy Ghost. The Father Eternal, the Son Coeternal with Him, and the Holy Ghost Coeternal. The Father Unchangeable, the Son Unchangeable, the Holy Ghost Unchangeable. The Father Creator, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The Father the Shepherd and the Giver of life, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The Father the Food and Bread eternal, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Learn, and teach; live yourself, and feed others. God who gives to you, gives you nothing better than Himself. O you greedy one, what else were you seeking for? Or if you seek for anything else, what will suffice you whom God does suffice not?

5. But necessary it is that you have charity, that you have faith, that you have hope; that that which is given may be sweet unto you. And these same, faith, hope, charity, are three. And these too are gifts of God. For faith we have received from Him; As God, says he, has distributed to every one the measure of faith. And hope we have received from Him, to whom it is said, Wherein You have caused me to hope. And charity we have received from Him, of whom it is said, The charity of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which has been given to us. Now these three are likewise in some measure different; but all gifts of God. For there abide these three, faith, hope, charity; but the greatest of these is charity. In those loaves it is not said that any one loaf was greater than the others; but simply that three loaves were asked for, and were given.

6. See other three things: Who is there of you, whom if his son ask a loaf, will he give him a stone? Or who is there of you of whom if his son ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? Or if he ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him! Let us then again consider these three things, if haply there be not here those three, faith, hope, charity; but the greatest of these is charity. Set down then these three things, a loaf, a fish, an egg; the greatest of these is a loaf. Therefore in these three things do we well understand charity by the loaf. On which account He has opposed a stone to a loaf; because hardness is contrary to charity. By a fish we understand faith. A certain holy man has said, and we are glad to say it too; The 'good fish' is a godly faith. It lives amidst the waves, and is not broken or dissolved by the waves. Amidst the temptations and tempests of this world, lives godly faith; the world rages, yet it is uninjured. Observe only that serpent is contrary to faith. For My faith is she betrothed to whom it is said in the Song of Songs, Come from Lebanon, My spouse, coming and passing over to Me from the beginning of faith. Therefore betrothed too, because faith is the beginning of betrothal. For something is promised by the bridegroom, and by this plighted faith is he held bound. Now to the fish the Lord opposed the serpent, to faith the devil. Wherefore to this betrothed one does the Apostle say, I have betrothed you to One Husband, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ. And, I fear lest as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds also should be corrupted from the purity which is in Christ; that is, which is in the faith of Christ. For he says, That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. Therefore let not the devil corrupt our faith, let him not devour the fish.

7. There remains hope, which, as I think, is compared to an egg. For hope has not yet arrived at attainment; and an egg is something, but not yet the chicken. So then quadrupeds give birth to young ones, but birds to the hope of young. Hope therefore exhorts us to this, to despise things present, to wait for things to come; forgetting those things which are behind, let us, with the Apostle, reach forth unto those things which are before. For so he says; But one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, reaching forth unto those things which are before, I follow on earnestly unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Nothing then is so hostile to hope, as to look back, to place hope, that is, in those things which flit by and pass away; but in those things should we place it, which are not yet given, but which sometime will be given, and will never pass away. But when the world is deluged by trials, as it were the sulphureous rain of Sodom, the example of Lot's wife must be feared. For she looked behind; and in the spot where she looked behind, there did she remain. She was turned into salt, that she might season the wise by her example. Of this hope the Apostle Paul speaks thus; For we are saved in hope; but hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for: but if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. For what a man sees, why does he yet hope for. It is an egg, and not as yet the chicken. And it is covered with a shell; it is not seen because it is covered; let it be with patience waited for; let it feel the warmth, that it may come to life. Press on, reach forth unto the things which are before, forget the past. For the things which are seen, are temporal. Not looking back, says he, at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. Unto those things which are not seen then extend your hope, wait, endure. Look not back. Fear the scorpion for your egg. See how he wounds with the tail, which he has behind him. Let not then the scorpion crush your egg, let not this world crush your hope (so to say) with its poison, therefore against you, because behind. How loudly does the world talk to you, what an uproar does it make behind your back, that you may look back! That is, that you may place your hope in present things (and yet not even present, for they cannot be called present which have no fixedness), and may turn your mind away from that which Christ has promised, and not yet given, but who, seeing He is faithful, will give it, and may be content to look for rest in a perishing world.

8. For this cause does God mingle bitternesses with the felicities of earth, that another felicity may be sought, in whose sweetness there is no deceit; yet by these very bitternesses does the world endeavour to turn you away from your longing pursuit after the things which are before, and to turn you back. For these bitternesses, for these tribulations do you murmur and say, See, all things are perishing in Christian times. What complaint is this! God has not promised me that these things shall not perish; Christ has not promised me this. The Eternal has promised things eternal: if I believe, from a mortal, I shall be made eternal. What noise is this, O world impure! What murmuring is this! Why are you trying to turn me back? Perishing as you are, you wish to detain me; what would you do, if you had any permanence? Whom would you not beguile by your sweetness, if with all your bitternesses you impose your false nourishment upon us? For me, if I have hope, if I hold fast my hope, my egg has not been wounded by the scorpion. I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall be ever in my mouth. Be the world prosperous, or be the world turned upside down; I will bless the Lord, who made the world. Yes, verily, I will bless Him. Be it well with me according to the flesh, or be it ill according to the flesh, I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall be ever in my mouth. For if I bless when it is well, and blaspheme when it is ill with me; I have received the scorpion's sting, being pricked I have looked back; which be far from us. The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away: it is done, as the Lord pleased; blessed be the name of the Lord.

9. The city which has given us birth according to the flesh still abides, God be thanked. O that it may receive a spiritual birth, and together with us pass over unto eternity! If the city which has given us birth according to the flesh abide not, yet that which has given us birth according to the Spirit abides forever. The Lord does build up Jerusalem. Has He by sleeping brought His building to ruin, or by not keeping it, let the enemy into it? Except the Lord keep the city, he that keeps it wakes but in vain. And what city? He that keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. What is Israel, but the seed of Abraham? What the seed of Abraham, but Christ? And to your seed, he says, which is Christ. And to us what says he? But you are Christ's, therefore Abraham's seed, heirs according to the promise. In your seed, says He, shall all nations be blessed. The holy city, the faithful city, the city on earth a sojourner, has its foundation in heaven. O faithful one, do not corrupt your hope, do not lose your charity, gird up your loins, light, and hold out your lamps before you; wait for the Lord, when He will return from the wedding. Why are you alarmed, because the kingdoms of the earth are perishing? Therefore has a heavenly kingdom been promised you, that you might not perish with the kingdoms of the earth. For it was foretold, foretold distinctly, that they should perish. For we cannot deny that it was foretold. Your Lord for whom you are waiting, has told you, Nation shall rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. The kingdoms of the earth have their changes; He will come of whom it is said, and of His kingdom there shall be no end.

10. They who have promised this to earthly kingdoms have not been guided by truth, but have lied through flattery. A certain poet of theirs has introduced Jupiter speaking, and he says of the Romans;

To them no bounds of empire I assign,
Nor term of years to their immortal line.

Most certainly truth makes no such answer. This empire which you have given without term of years, is it on earth, or in heaven? On earth assuredly. And even if it were in heaven, yet heaven and earth shall pass away. Those things shall pass away which God has Himself made; how much more rapidly shall that pass away which Romulus founded! Perhaps if we had a mind to press Virgil on this point, and tauntingly to ask him why he said it; he would take us aside privately, and say to us, I know this as well as you, but what could I do who was selling words to the Romans, if by this kind of flattery I did not promise something which was false? And yet even in this very instance I have been cautious, when I said, 'I assigned to them an empire without term of years,' I introduced their Jupiter to say it. I did not utter this falsehood in my own person, but put upon Jupiter the character of untruthfulness: as the god was false, the poet was false. For would ye know that I well knew the truth of it? In another place, when I did not introduce this stone, called Jupiter, but spoke in my own person, I said,

'Th' impending ruin of the Roman state.'

See how I spoke of the impending ruin of the state. I spoke of its impending ruin. I did not suppress it. When he spoke in truth he was not silent as to its ruin; when in flattery, he promised that it should abide forever.

11. Let us not then faint, my Brethren: an end there will be to all earthly kingdoms. If that end be now, God knows. For perhaps it is not yet, and we, through some infirmity, or mercifulness, or misery, are wishing that it may not be yet; nevertheless will it not therefore some day be? Fix your hope in God, desire the things eternal, wait for the things eternal. You are Christians, Brethren, we are all Christians. Christ did not come down into the flesh that we might live softly; let us endure rather than love the things present; manifest is the harm of adversity, deceitful is the soft blandishment of prosperity. Fear the sea, even when it is a calm. On no account let us hear in vain, Let us lift up our hearts. Why place we our hearts in the earth, when we see that the earth is being turned upside down? We cannot but exhort you, that you may have something to say and answer in defense of your hope against the deriders and blasphemers of the Christian name. Let no one by his murmuring turn you back from waiting for the things to come. All who by reason of these adversities blaspheme our Christ, are the scorpion's tail. Let us put our egg under the wings of that Hen of the Gospel, which cries out to that false and abandoned city, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen her chickens, and you would not! Let it not be said to us, How often would I, and you would not! For that hen is the Divine Wisdom; but assumed flesh to accommodate Itself to its chickens. See the hen with feathers bristling, with wings hanging down, with voice broken, and tremulous, and faint, and languid, accommodating herself to her little ones. Our egg then, that is, our hope, let us place beneath the wings of this Hen.

12. You have noticed, it may be, how a hen will tear a scorpion in pieces. O then that the Hen of the Gospel would tear in pieces and devour these blasphemers, creeping out of their holes, and inflicting hurtful stings, would pass them over into Her Body, and turn them into an egg. Let them not be angry; we seem to be excited; but we do not return curses for curses. We are cursed, and we bless, being defamed, we entreat. But let him not speak of Rome, it is said of me: O that he would hold his tongue about Rome; as though I were insulting it, and not rather entreating the Lord for it, and exhorting you all, unworthy as I am. Be it far from me to insult it! The Lord avert this from my heart, and from the grief of my conscience. Have we not had many brethren there? Have we not still? Does not a large portion of the pilgrim city Jerusalem live there? Has it not endured there temporal afflictions? But it has not lost the things eternal. What can I say then, when I speak of Rome, but that is false, which they say of our Christ, that He is Rome's destroyer, and that the gods of wood and stone were her defenders? Add what is more costly, gods of brass. Add what is costlier still, of silver and gold: the idols of the nations are silver and gold. He did not say, stone; he did not say, wood; he did not say, clay; but, what they value highly, silver and gold. Yet these silver and golden idols have eyes, and see not. The gods of gold, of wood, are as regards their costliness unequal; but as to having eyes, and seeing not, they are equal. See to what sort of guardians learned men have entrusted Rome, to those who have eyes, and see not. Or if they were able to preserve Rome, why did they first perish themselves? They say; Rome perished at the same time. Nevertheless they perished. No, they say, they did not perish themselves, but their statues. Well, how then could they keep your houses, who were not able to keep their own statues? Alexandria once lost such gods as these. Constantinople some time since, ever since it was made a grand city, for it was made so by a Christian Emperor, lost its false gods; and yet it has increased, and still increases, and remains. And remain it will, as long as God pleases. For we do not to this city either promise an eternal duration because we say this. Carthage remains now in its possession of the Name of Christ, yet once on a time its goddess Cælestis was overthrown; because celestial she was not, but terrestrial.

13. And that which they say is not true, that immediately on losing her gods Rome has been taken and ruined. It is not true at all; their images were overthrown before; and even so were the Goths with Rhadagaisus conquered. Remember, my Brethren, remember; it is no long time since, but a few years, call it to mind. When all the images in the city of Rome had been overthrown, Rhadagaisus king of the Goths came with a large army, much more numerous than that of Alaric was. Rhadagaisus was a Pagan; he sacrificed to Jupiter every day. Everywhere it was announced, that Rhadagaisus did not cease from sacrificing. Then said they all, Lo, we do not sacrifice, he does sacrifice, we, who are not allowed to sacrifice must be conquered by him who does sacrifice. But God making proof that not even temporal deliverance, nor the preservation of these earthly kingdoms, consist in these sacrifices, Rhadagaisus, by the Lord's help, was marvellously overcome. Afterwards came other Goths who did not sacrifice, they came, who though they were not Catholics in the Christian faith, were yet hostile and opposed to idols, and they took Rome; they conquered those who put their trust in idols, who were still seeking after the idols they had lost, and desiring still to sacrifice to the lost gods. And among them too were some of our brethren, and these were afflicted also: but they had learned to say, I will bless the Lord at all times. They were involved in the afflictions of their earthly kingdom: but they lost not the kingdom of heaven; yea, rather, they were made the better for obtaining it through the exercise of tribulations. And if they did not in their tribulations blaspheme, they came out as sound vessels from the furnace, and were filled with the blessing of the Lord. Whereas those blasphemers, who follow and long after earthly things, who place their hope in earthly things, when these they have lost, whether they will or no, what shall they retain? Where shall they abide? Nothing without, nothing within; an empty coffer, an emptier conscience. Where is their rest? Where their salvation? Where their hope? Let them then come, let them give over blaspheming, let them learn to adore; let the scorpions with their stings be devoured by the Hen, let them be turned into His body who makes them pass over into it; let them on earth be exercised, in heaven be crowned.

Sermon 56 on the New Testament

[CVI. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Luke 11:39 , Now do ye Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter, etc.

1. You have heard the holy Gospel, how the Lord Jesus in that which He said to the Pharisees, conveyed doubtless a lesson to His own disciples, that they should not think that righteousness consists in the cleansing of the body. For every day did the Pharisees wash themselves in water before they dined; as if a daily washing could be a cleansing of the heart. Then He showed what sort of persons they were. He told them who saw them; for He saw not their faces only but their inward parts. For that you may know this, that Pharisee, to whom Christ made answer, thought within himself, he uttered nothing aloud, yet the Lord heard him. For within himself he blamed the Lord Christ, because He had so come to his feast without having washed. He was thinking, the Lord heard, therefore He answered. What then did He answer? Now do ye Pharisees wash the outside of the platter; but within you are full of guile and ravening. What! Is this to come to a feast! How did He not spare the man by whom He had been invited? Yea rather by rebuking He did spare him, that being reformed He might spare him in the judgment. And what is it that He shows to us? That Baptism also which is conferred once for all, cleanses by faith. Now faith is within, not without. Wherefore it is said and read in the Acts of the Apostles, Cleansing their hearts by faith. And the Apostle Peter thus speaks in his Epistle; So too has He given you a similitude from Noah's ark, how that eight souls were saved by water. And then he added, So also in a like figure will baptism save us, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience. This answer of a good conscience did the Pharisees despise, and washed that which was without; within they continued full of pollution.

2. And what did He say to them after this? But rather give alms, and behold all things are clean unto you. See the praise of alms, do, and prove it. But mark awhile; this was said to the Pharisees. These Pharisees were Jews, the choice men as it were of the Jews. For those of most consideration and learning were then called Pharisees. They had not been washed by Christ's Baptism; they had not yet believed on Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God, who walked among them, yet was not acknowledged by them. How then does He say to them, Give alms, and behold all things are clean unto you? If the Pharisees had paid heed to Him, and given alms, at once according to His word all things would have been clean to them; what need then was there for them to believe in Him? But if they could not be cleansed, except by believing on Him, who cleanses the heart by faith; what means, Give alms, and behold all things are clean unto you? Let us carefully consider this, and perhaps He Himself explains it.

3. When He had spoken thus, doubtless they thought that they did give alms. And how did they give them? They tithed all they had, they took away a tenth of all their produce, and gave it. It is no easy matter to find a Christian who does as much. See what the Jews did. Not wheat only, but wine, and oil; nor this only, but even the most trifling things, cummin, rue, mint, and anise, in obedience to God's precept, they tithed all; put aside, that is, a tenth part, and gave alms of it. I suppose then that they recalled this to mind, and thought that the Lord Christ was speaking to no purpose, as if to those who did not give alms; whereas they knew their own doings, how that they tithed, and gave alms of the minutest and most trifling of their produce. They mocked Him within themselves as He spoke thus, as if to men who did not give alms. The Lord knowing this, immediately subjoined, But woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, who tithe mint, and cummin, and rue, and all herbs. That ye may know, I am aware of your alms. Doubtless these tithes are your alms; yea even the minutest and most trifling of your fruits do ye tithe; Yet ye leave the weightier matters of the law, judgment and charity. Mark. You have left judgment and charity, and you tithe herbs. This is not to do alms. These, says He, ought ye to do, and not to leave the other undone. Do what? Judgment and charity, justice and mercy; and not to leave the other undone. Do these; but give the preference to the others.

4. If this be so, why did He say to them, Do alms, and behold all things are clean unto you? What is, Do alms? Do mercy. What is, Do mercy? If you understand, begin with your own self. For how should you be merciful to another, if you are cruel to yourself? Give alms, and all things are clean unto you. Do true alms. What is alms? Mercy. Hear the Scripture; Have mercy on your own soul, pleasing God. Do alms, Have mercy on your own soul, pleasing God. Your own soul is a beggar before you, return to your conscience. Whosoever you are, who art living in wickedness or unbelief, return to your conscience; and there you find your soul in beggary, you find it needy, you find it poor, you find it in sorrow, nay perhaps you do not find it in need, but dumb through its neediness. For if it beg, it hungers after righteousness. Now when you find your soul in such a state (all this is within, in your heart), first do alms, give it bread. What bread? If the Pharisee had asked this question, the Lord would have said to him, Give alms to your own soul. For this He did say to him; but he did not understand it, when He enumerated to them the alms which they were used to do, and which they thought were unknown to Christ; and He says to them, I know that you do this, 'ye tithe mint and anise, cummin and rue;' but I am speaking of other alms; ye despise 'judgment and charity.' In judgment and charity give alms to your own soul. What is in judgment? Look back, and discover yourself; mislike yourself, pronounce a judgment against yourself. And what is charity? Love the Lord God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind; love your neighbour as yourself: and you have done alms first to your own soul, within your conscience. Whereas if you neglect this alms, give what you will, give how much you will; reserve of your goods not a tenth, but a half; give nine parts, and leave but one for your own self: you do nothing, when you do not alms to your own soul, and art poor in yourself. Let your soul have its food, that it perish not by famine. Give her bread. What bread, you will say? He speaks with you Himself. If you would hear, and understand, and believe the Lord, He would say to you Himself, I am the Living Bread which came down from heaven. Would you not first give this Bread to your own soul, and do alms unto it? If then you believe, you ought so to do, that you may first feed your own soul. Believe in Christ, and the things which are within shall be cleansed; and what is without shall be clean also. Let us turn to the Lord, etc.

Sermon 57 on the New Testament

[CVII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Luke 12:15 , And he said to them, take heed, and keep yourselves from all covetousness.

1. I doubt not but that you who fear God, do hear His word with awe, and execute it with cheerfulness; that what He has promised, you may at present hope for, hereafter receive. We have just now heard the Lord Christ Jesus, the Son of God, giving us a precept. The Truth, who neither deceives, nor is deceived, has given us a precept; let us hear, fear, beware. What is this precept then: I say unto you, Beware of all covetousness? What is, of all covetousness? What is, of all? Why did He add, of all? For He might have spoken thus, Beware of covetousness. It suited Him to add, of all; and to say, Beware of all covetousness.

2. Why He said this, the occasion as it were out of which these words arose, is shown to us in the holy Gospel. A certain man appealed to Him against his brother, who had taken away all his patrimony, and gave not back his proper portion to his brother. You see then how good a case this appellant had. For he was not seeking to take by violence another's, but was seeking only for his own which had been left him by his parents; these was he demanding back by his appeal to the judgment of the Lord. He had an unrighteous brother; but against an unrighteous brother had he found a righteous Judge. Ought he then in so good a cause to lose that opportunity? Or who would say to his brother, Restore to your brother his portion, if Christ would not say it? Would that judge be likely to say it, whom perhaps his richer and extortionate brother might corrupt by a bribe? Forlorn then as he was, and despoiled of his father's goods, when he had found such and so great a Judge he goes up to Him, he appeals to, he beseeches Him, he lays his cause before Him in few words. For what occasion was there to set forth his cause at length, when he was speaking to Him who could even see the heart? Master, he says, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. The Lord did not say to him, Let your brother come. No, He neither sent for him to be present, nor in his presence did He say to him who had appealed to Him, Prove what you were saying. He asked for half an inheritance, he asked for half an inheritance on earth; the Lord offered him a whole inheritance in heaven. The Lord gave more than asked for.

3. Speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. Just case, short case. But let us hear Him who at once gives judgment and instruction. Man, He says. O man; for seeing you value this inheritance so highly, what are you but a man? He wished to make him something more than man. What more did He wish to make him, from whom He wished to take covetousness away? What more did He wish to make him? I will tell you, I have said, You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High. Lo, what He wished to make him, to reckon him that has no covetousness among the gods. Man, who made Me a divider among you? So the Apostle Paul His servant, when he said, I beseech you, brethren, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you, was unwilling to be a divider. And afterwards he thus admonished them who were running after his name, and dividing Christ: Every one of you says, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? Judge then, how wicked are those men, who would have Him to be divided, who would not be a divider. Who, says He, has made Me a divider among you?

4. You have petitioned for a kindness; hear counsel. I say unto you, Beware of all covetousness. Perhaps, he would say, you would call him covetous and greedy, if he were seeking another's goods; but I say, seek not even your own greedily or covetously. This is Of all, beware of all covetousness. A heavy burden this! If by any chance this burden be imposed on them that are weak; let Him be sought unto, that He who imposes it, may vouchsafe to give us strength. For it is not a thing to be lightly regarded, my Brethren, when our Lord, our Redeemer, our Saviour, who died for us, who gave His Own Blood as our ransom, to redeem us, our Advocate and Judge; it is no light matter when He says, Beware. He knows well how great the evil is; we know it not, let us believe Him. Beware, says He. Wherefore? Of what? of all covetousness. I am but keeping what is my own, I am not taking away another's; Beware of all covetousness. Not only is he covetous, who plunders the goods of others; but he is covetous too, who greedily keeps his own. But if he is so blamed who greedily keeps his own; how is he condemned who plunders what is another's! Beware, He says, of all covetousness: For a man's life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses. He that stores up great abundance, how much does he take therefrom to live? When he has taken it, and in a way separated in thought sufficient to live upon from it, let him consider for whom the rest remains; lest haply when you keep wherewith to live, you are gathering only wherewith to die. Behold Christ, behold truth, behold severity. Beware, says truth: Beware, says severity. If you love not the truth, fear severity. A man's life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses. Believe Him, He does not deceive you. On the other hand, you say, Yea, 'a man's life' does 'consist in the abundance of the things which he possesses.' He does not deceive you; you deceive yourself.

5. Out of this occasion then, when that appellant was seeking his own portion, not desiring to plunder another's, arose that sentence of the Lord, wherein He said not, Beware of covetousness; but added, of all covetousness. Nor was this all: He gives another example of a certain rich man, whose ground had turned out well. There was, He says, a certain rich man, whose ground had turned out well. What is, had turned out well? The ground which he possessed had brought forth a great produce. How great? So that he could not find where to bestow it: suddenly, through his abundance he became straitened — this old covetous man. For how many years had already passed away, and yet those barns had been enough? So great then was the produce, that the accustomed places were not sufficient. And the wretched man sought counsel, not as to how he should lay the additional produce out, but how he should store it up; and in thinking he discovered an expedient. He seemed as it were wise in his own eyes, by the discovery of this expedient. Knowingly did he think of it, wisely hit upon it. What was this he wisely hit upon? I will destroy, he says, my old barns, and will build new ones greater, and will fill them; and I will say to my soul. What will you say to your soul? Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years, take your ease, eat, drink, be merry. This did the wise discoverer of this expedient say to his soul.

6. And God, who does not disdain to speak even with fools, said to him. Some of you may perhaps say, And how did God speak with a fool? O, my Brethren, with how many fools does He speak here, when the Gospel is read! When it is read, are not they who hear and do not, fools? What then did the Lord say? For he, I repeat, thought himself wise by the discovery of his expedient. You fool, He says; You fool, who seemest wise unto yourself; You fool, who hast said to your soul, You have much goods laid up for many years: today is your soul required of you! Your soul to which you have said, You have much goods, today is required, and has no good at all. Let it then despise these goods, and be herself good, that when she is required, she may depart in assured hope. For what is more perverse than a man who wishes to have much goods, and does not wish to be good himself? Unworthy are you to have them, who dost not wish to be what you wish to have. For do you wish to have a bad country house? No indeed, but a good one. Or a bad wife? No, but a good one. Or a bad hood? Or even a bad shoe? And why a bad soul only? He did not in this place say to this fool who was thinking on vain things, building barns, and who had no regard to the wants of the poor; He did not say to him, Today shall your soul be hurried away to hell: He said no such thing as this, but is required of you. I do not tell you whither your soul shall go; yet hence, where you are laying up for it such store of things, must it depart, whether you will or no. Lo, you fool, you have thought to fill your new and greater barns, as if there was nothing to be done with what you have.

7. But perhaps he was not yet a Christian. Let us hear then, Brethren, to whom as believers the Gospel is read, by whom He who spoke these things, is worshipped, whose mark is borne by us on our forehead, and is held in the heart. For of very great concernment is it where a man has the mark of Christ, whether in the forehead, or both in the forehead and the heart. You have heard today the words of the holy prophet Ezekiel, how that before God sent one to destroy the ungodly people, He first sent one to mark them, and said to him, Go and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and moan for the sins of my people that are done in the midst of them. He did not say, which are done without them; but in the midst of them. Yet they sigh and moan; and therefore are they marked on the forehead: in the forehead of the inner man, not the outer. For there is a forehead in the face, there is a forehead in the conscience. So it happens that when the inner forehead is stricken, the outer grows red; either red with shame, or pale with fear. So then there is a forehead of the inner man. There were they marked that they might not be destroyed; because though they did not correct the sins which were done in the midst of them, yet they sorrowed for them, and by that very sorrow separated themselves; and though separated in God's sight, they were mixed with them in the eyes of men. They are marked secretly, are not hurt openly. Afterwards the Destroyer is sent, and to him it is said, Go, lay waste, spare neither young nor old, male nor female, but come not near those who have the mark on their forehead. How great security is granted to you, my Brethren, who among this people are sighing, and moaning for the iniquities which are being done in the midst of you, and who do them not!

8. But that you may not commit iniquities, beware of all covetousness. I will tell you in its full extent, what is of all covetousness. In matter of lust he is covetous, whom his own wife suffices not. And idolatry itself is called covetousness; because again in matter of divine worship he is covetous, whom the one and true God suffices not. What but the covetous soul makes for itself many gods? What but the covetous soul makes to itself false martyrs? Beware of all covetousness. Lo, you love your own goods, and dost boast yourself in that you seek not the goods of others; see what evil you do in not hearing Christ, who says, Beware of all covetousness. Love your own goods, do not take away the goods of others; you have the fruits of your labour, they are justly yours; you have been left an heir, someone whose good graces you have attained has given it to you; you have been on the sea, and in its perils, hast committed no fraud, hast sworn no lie, hast acquired what it has pleased God you should, and you are keeping it greedily as in a good conscience, because you do not possess it from evil sources, and dost not seek what is another's. Yet if you give not heed to Him who has said, Beware of all covetousness, hear how great evils you will be ready to do for your own goods' sake. Lo, for example, it has chanced to you to be made a judge. You will not be corrupted, because you do not seek the goods of others; no one gives you a bribe and says, Give judgment against my adversary. This be far from you, a man, who seeks not the things of others, how could you be persuaded to do this? Yet see what evil you will be ready to do for your own goods' sake. Peradventure he that wishes you to judge evilly, and pronounce sentence for him against his adversary is a powerful man, and able to bring up false accusation against you, that you may lose what you have. Thou dost reflect, and think upon his power, think of your own goods you are keeping, which you love: not which you have possessed, but in whose power rather you are yourself unhappily fixed. This your bird-lime, by reason of which you have not the wings of virtue free, you look to; and you say within your own self, I am offending this man, he has much influence in the world; he will suggest evil accusations against me, and I shall be outlawed, and lose all I have. Thus you will give unrighteous judgment, not when you seek another's, but when you keep your own.

9. Give me a man who has given ear to Christ, give me a man who has heard with fear Beware of all covetousness; and let him not say to me, I am a poor man, a plebeian of mean estate, one of the common people, how can I hope ever to be a judge? I am in no fear of this temptation, the peril of which you have placed before my eyes. Yet lo, even this poor man I will tell what he ought to fear. Some rich and powerful person calls you to give false witness for him. What will you be doing now? Tell me. You have a good little property of your own; you have laboured for it, hast acquired, and kept it. That person requires of you; Give false witness for me, and I will give you so and so much. Thou who seekest not the things of others, sayest, That be far from me: I do not seek for what it has not pleased God to give me, I will not receive it; depart from me. Have you no wish to receive what I give? I will take away what you have already. See now prove yourself, question now your own self. Why do you look at me? Look inward on your own self, look at your own self within, examine your own self within; sit down before your own self, and summon your own self before you, and stretch yourself upon the rack of God's commandment, and torment yourself with His fear, and deal not softly with yourself; answer your own self. Lo, if any one were to threaten you with this, what would you do? I will take away from you what with so great labour you have acquired, if you will not give false witness for me. Give him that; Beware of all covetousness. O my servant, He will say to you, whom I have redeemed and made free, whom from a servant I have adopted to be a brother, whom I have set as a member in My Body, give ear to Me: He may take away what you have acquired, Me he shall not take away from you. Are you keeping your own goods, that you may not perish? What, have I not said to you, 'Beware of all covetousness'?

10. Lo, you are in confusion, tossed to and fro; your heart as a ship is shaken about by tempests. Christ is asleep: awake Him, that sleeps, and you shall be exposed no more to the raging of the storm. Awake Him, who was pleased to have nothing here, and you have all, who came even to the Cross for you, whose Bones as He was naked and hanging were numbered by them that mocked Him; and beware of all covetousness. Covetousness of money is not all; beware of covetousness of life. A dreadful covetousness, covetousness much to be feared. Sometimes a man will despise what he has, and say, I will not give false witness; I will not. You tell me, I will take away what you have. Take away what I have; you do not take away what I have within. For he was not left a poor man, who said, 'The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; it is done as it pleased the Lord; blessed' therefore 'be the Name of the Lord. Naked came I out of my mother's womb, naked shall I return to the earth.' Naked outwardly, well-clothed within. Naked as regards these rags, these corruptible rags outwardly, clothed within. With what? 'Let your priests be clothed with righteousness.' But what if he say to you, when you have despised the things which you possess, what if he say to you, I will kill you? If you have given ear to Christ, answer him, Will You kill me? Better that you should kill my body, than that I by a false tongue should kill my soul! What can you do to me? You will kill my body; my soul will depart at liberty, to receive again at the end of the world even this very body she has despised. What can you do to me then? Whereas if I should give false witness for you, with your tongue do I kill myself; and not in my body do I kill myself; 'For the mouth that lies kills the soul.' But perhaps you do not say so. And why do you not say so? You wish to live; you wish to live longer than God has appointed for you? Do you then beware of all covetousness? So long was it God's will that you should live, till this person came to you. It may be that he will kill you, to make a martyr of you. Entertain then no undue desire of life; and so you will not have an eternity of death. You see how that covetousness everywhere, when we wish for more than is necessary, causes us to sin. Beware we of all covetousness, if we would enjoy eternal wisdom.

Sermon 58 on the New Testament

[CVIII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Luke 12:35 , Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning; and be ye yourselves like, etc. And on the words of the 34th Psalm, v. 12 , what man is he that desires life, etc.

1. Our Lord Jesus Christ both came to men, and went away from men, and is to come to men. And yet He was here when He came, nor did He depart when He went away, and He is to come to them to whom He said, Lo, I am with you, even unto the end of the world. According to the form of a servant then, which He took for our sakes, was He born at a certain time, and was slain, and rose again, and now dies no more, neither shall death have any more dominion over Him; but according to His Divinity, wherein He was equal to the Father, was He already in this world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. On this point you have just heard the Gospel, what admonition it has given us, putting us on our guard, and wishing us to be unencumbered and prepared to await the end; that after these last things, which are to be feared in this world, that rest may succeed which has no end. Blessed are they who shall be partakers of it. For then shall they be in security, who are not in security now; and again then shall they fear, who will not fear now. Unto this waiting, and for this hope's sake, have we been made Christians. Is not our hope not of this world? Let us then not love the world. From the love of this world have we been called away, that we may hope for and love another. In this world ought we to abstain from all unlawful desires, to have, that is, our loins girded; and to be fervent and to shine in good works, that is, to have our lights burning. For the Lord Himself said to His disciples in another place of the Gospel, No man lights a candle and puts it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that it may give light unto all that are in the house. And to show of what He was speaking, He subjoined and said, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

2. Therefore He would that our loins should be girded, and our lights burning. What is, our loins girded? Depart from evil. What is to burn? What is to have our lights burning? It is this, And do good. What is that which He said afterwards, And ye yourselves like men that wait for their Lord, when He will return from the wedding: except that which follows in that Psalm, Seek after peace, and ensue it? These three things, that is, abstaining from evil, and doing good, and the hope of everlasting reward, are recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, where it is written, that Paul taught them of temperance and righteousness, and the hope of eternal life. To temperance belongs, let your loins be girded. To righteousness, and your lights burning. To the hope of eternal life, the waiting for the Lord. So then, depart from evil, this is temperance, these are the loins girded: and do good, this is righteousness, these are the lights burning; seek peace, and ensue it, this is the waiting for the world to come: therefore, Be like men that wait for their Lord, when He will come from the wedding.

3. Having then these precepts and promises, why seek we on earth for good days, where we cannot find them? For I know that you do seek them, when you are either sick, or in any of the tribulations, which in this world abound. For when life draws towards its close, the old man is full of complaints, and with no joys. Amid all the tribulations by which mankind is worn away, men seek for nothing but good days, and wish for a long life, which here they cannot have. For even a man's long life is narrowed within so short a span to the wide extent of all ages, as if it were but one drop to the whole sea. What then is man's life, even that which is called a long one? They call that a long life, which even in this world's course is short; and as I have said, groans abound even unto the decrepitude of old age. This at the most is but brief, and of short duration; and yet how eagerly is it sought by men, with how great diligence, with how great toil, with how great carefulness, with how great watchfulness, with how great labour do men seek to live here for a long time, and to grow old. And yet this very living long, what is it but running to the end? You had yesterday, and you wish also to have tomorrow. But when this day and tomorrow are passed, you have them not. Therefore you wish for the day to break, that that may draw near to you whither you have no wish to come. You make some annual festival with your friends, and hear it there said to you by your well-wishers, May you live many years, you wish that what they have said, may come to pass. What? Do you wish that years and years may come, and the end of these years come not? Your wishes are contrary to one another; you wish to walk on, and do not wish to reach the end.

4. But if, as I have said, there is so great care in men, as to desire with daily, great and perpetual labours, to die somewhat later: with how great cause ought they to strive, that they may never die? Of this, no one will think. Day by day good days are sought for in this world, where they are not found; yet no one wishes so to live, that he may arrive there where they are found. Therefore the same Scripture admonishes us, and says, Who is the man that wishes for life, and loves to see good days? Scripture so asked the question, as that It knew well what answer would be given It; knowing that all men would seek for life and good days. In accordance with their desire It asked the question, as if the answer would be given It from the heart of all, I wish it; It said thus, Who is the man that wishes for life, and loves to see good days? Just as even at this very hour in which I am speaking to you, when you heard me say, Who is the man that wishes for life, and loves to see good days? ye all answered in your heart, I. For so do I too, who am speaking with you, wish for life and good days; what ye seek, that do I seek also.

5. Just as if gold were necessary for us all, and we all, I as well as you, were wishing to get at the gold, and there was some anywhere in a field of yours, in a place subject to your power, and I were to see you searching for it, and were to say to you, What are you searching for? you were to answer me, Gold. And I were to say to you, You are searching for gold, and I am searching for gold too: what you are searching for, I am searching for; but you are not searching for it where we can find it. Listen to me then, where we can find it; I am not taking it away from you, I am showing you the spot; yea, let us all follow Him, who knows where what we are seeking for, is. So now too seeing that you desire life and good days, we cannot say to you, Do not desire 'life and good days;' but this we say, Do not seek for 'life and good days' here in this world, where 'good days' cannot be. Is not this life itself like death? Now these days here hasten and pass away: for today has shut out yesterday; tomorrow only rises that it may shut out today. These days themselves have no abiding; wherefore would you abide with them? Your desire then whereby ye wish for life and good days, I not only do not repress, but I even more strongly inflame. By all means seek for life, seek for good days; but let them be sought there, where they can be found.

6. For would ye with me hear His counsel, who knows where good days and where life is? Hear it not from me, but together with me. For One says to us, Come, you children, hearken unto Me. And let us run together, and stand, and prick up our ears, and with our hearts understand the Father, who has said, Come, you children, hearken unto Me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord. And then follows what he would teach us, and to what end the fear of the Lord is useful. Who is the man that wishes life, and loves to see good days? We all answer, We wish it. Let us listen then to what follows, Refrain your tongue from evil, and your lips that they speak no guile. Now say, I wish it. Just now when I said, Who is the man that wishes for life, and loves to see good days? we all answered, I. Come then, let some one now answer I. So then, Refrain your tongue from evil, and your lips that they speak no guile. Now say, I. Would you then have good days and life, and would you not refrain your tongue from evil, and your lips that they speak no guile? Alert to the reward, slow to the work! And to whom if he does not work is the reward rendered? I would that in your house you would render the reward even to him that does work! For to him that works not, I am sure you do not render it. And why? Because you owe nothing to him that does not work! And God has a reward proposed. What reward? Life and good days, which life we all desire, and unto which days we all strive to come. The promised reward He will give us. What reward? Life and good days. And what are good days? Life without end, rest without labour.

7. Great is the reward He has set before us: in so great a reward as is set before us, let us see what He has commanded us. For enkindled by the reward of so great a promise, and by the love of the reward, let us make ready at once our strength, our sides, our arms, to do His bidding. Is it as if He were to command us to carry heavy burdens, to dig something it may be, or to raise up some machine? No, no such laborious thing has He enjoined you, but has enjoined you only to refrain that member which among all your members you move so quickly. Refrain your tongue from evil. It is no labour to erect a building, and is it a labour to hold in the tongue? Refrain your tongue from evil. Speak no lie, speak no revilings, speak no slanders, speak no false witnesses, speak no blasphemies. Refrain your tongue from evil. See how angry you are, if any one speaks evil of you. As you are angry with another, when he speaks evil of you; so be angry with yourself, when you speak evil of another. Let your lips speak no guile. What is in your heart within, be that spoken out. Let not your breast conceal one thing, and your tongue utter another. Depart from evil, and do good. For how should I say, Clothe the naked, to him who up to this time would strip him that is clothed? For he that oppresses his fellow-citizen, how can he take in the stranger? So then in proper order, first depart from evil, and do good; first gird up your loins, and then light the lamp. And when you have done this, wait in assured hope for life and good days. Seek peace, and ensue it; and then with a good face will you say unto the Lord, I have done what You have bidden, render me what You have promised.

Sermon 59 on the New Testament

[CIX. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Luke 12:56-58 , You know how to interpret the face of the Earth and the Heaven, etc.; and of the words, for as you are going with your adversary before the magistrate, on the way give diligence to be quit of him, etc.

1. We have heard the Gospel, and in it the Lord reproving those who knew how to discern the face of the sky, and know not how to discover the time of faith, the kingdom of heaven which is at hand. Now this He said to the Jews; but His words reach even unto us. Now the Lord Jesus Christ Himself began the preaching of His Gospel in this way; Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. In like manner too John the Baptist and His forerunner began thus; Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And now the Lord rebukes those who would not repent, when the kingdom of heaven was at hand. The kingdom of heaven, as He says Himself, will not come with observation. And again He says, The kingdom of heaven is within you. Let every one then wisely receive the admonitions of the Master, that he may not lose the season of the mercy of the Saviour, which is now being dealt out, as long as the human race is spared. For to this end is man spared, that he may be converted, and that he may not be to be condemned. God only knows when the end of the world shall come: nevertheless now is the time of faith. Whether the end of the world shall find any of us here, I know not; and perhaps it will not find us. Our time is very near to each one of us, seeing we are mortal. We walk in the midst of chances. If we were made of glass, we should have to fear chances less than we have. What is more fragile than a vessel of glass? And yet it is kept, and lasts for ages. For though the chances of a fall are feared for the vessel of glass, yet there is no fear of fever or old age for it. We then are more fragile and more infirm; because all the chances which are incessant in human things, we doubtless through our frailness are in daily dread of; and if these chances come not, yet time goes on; a man avoids this stroke, can he avoid his end? He avoids accidents which happen from without, can that which is born within be driven away? Again, now the entrails engender worms, now some other disease attacks on a sudden; lastly, let a man be spared ever so long, at last when old age comes, there is no way of putting off that.

2. Wherefore let us give ear to the Lord, let us do within ourselves what He has enjoined. Let us see who that adversary is, of whom He has put us in fear, saying, If you go with your adversary to the magistrate, give diligence in the way to be delivered from him; lest haply he deliver you to the magistrate, and the magistrate to the officer, and you be cast into prison, from whence you shall not come out, till you pay the very last farthing. Who is this adversary? If the devil; we have been delivered from him already. What a price was given for us that we might be redeemed from him! Of which the Apostle says, speaking of this our redemption, Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love. We have been redeemed, we have renounced the devil; how shall we give diligence to be delivered from him, that he make us not, as sinners, his captives again? But this is not the adversary of whom the Lord gives us warning. For in another place another Evangelist has so expressed it, that if we join both expressions together, and compare both expressions of the two Evangelists with each other, we shall soon understand who this adversary is. For see, what did Luke say here? When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, give diligence in the way to be delivered from him. But the other Evangelist has expressed this same thing thus: Agree with your adversary quickly, whiles you are in the way with him. All the rest is alike: Lest haply the adversary deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison. Both Evangelists have explained this alike. One said, Give diligence in the way to be delivered from him; the other said, Agree with him. For you will not be able to be delivered from him, unless you agree with him. Would you be delivered from him? Agree with him. But what? Is it the devil with whom the Christian ought to agree?

3. Let us then seek out this adversary, with whom we ought to agree, lest he deliver us to the judge, and the judge to the officer; let us seek him out, and agree with him. If you sin, the word of God is your adversary. For example, it is a delight to you perchance to be drunken; it says to you, Do it not. It is a delight to you to frequent the spectacles, and such triflings; it says to you, Do it not. It is a delight to you to commit adultery; the word of God says to you, Do it not. In what sins soever you would do your own will, it says to you, Do it not. It is the adversary of your will, till it become the author of your salvation. O how goodly, how useful an adversary! It does not seek our will, but our advantage. It is our adversary, as long as we are our own adversaries. As long as you are your own enemy, you have the word of God your enemy; be your own friend, and you are in agreement with it. You shall do no murder; give ear, and you have agreed with it. You shall not steal; give ear, and you have agreed with it. You shall not commit adultery; give ear, and you have agreed with it. You shall not give false witness; give ear, and you have agreed with it. You shall not covet your neighbour's wife; give ear, and you have agreed with it. You shall not covet your neighbour's goods; give ear, and you have agreed with it. In all these things you have agreed with this your adversary, and what have you lost to yourself? Not only have you lost nothing; but you have even found yourself, who had been lost. The way, is this life; if we shall agree with the adversary, if we shall come to terms with him; when the way is ended, we shall not fear the judge, the officer, the prison.

4. When is the way ended? It is not ended at the same hour to all. Each several man has his hour when he shall end his way. This life is called the way; when you have ended this life, you have ended the way. We are going on, and the very living is advancing. Unless perhaps ye imagine that time advances, and we stand still! It cannot be. As time advances, we too advance; and years do not come to us, but rather go away. Greatly are men mistaken when they say, This boy has little good sense yet, but years will come on him, and he will be wise. Consider what you say, Will come on him, you have said; I will show that they go away, whereas you say, they come on. And hear how easily I prove it. Let us suppose that we have known the number of his years from his birth; for instance (that we may wish him well) he has to live fourscore years, he is to arrive at old age. Write down fourscore years. One year he has lived; how many have you in the total? How many have you down? Fourscore! Deduct one. He has lived ten; seventy remain. He has lived twenty; sixty remain. Yet surely, it will be said, they did come; what can this mean? Our years come that they may depart; they come, I say that they may go. For they do not come, that they may abide with us, but as they pass through us, they wear us out, and make us less and less strong. Such is the way into which we have come. What then have we to do with that adversary, that is, with the word of God? Agree with him. For you know not when the way may be ended. When the way is ended, there remain the judge, and the officer, and the prison. But if you maintain a good will to your adversary, and agree with him; instead of a judge, shall you find a father, instead of a cruel officer, an Angel taking you away into Abraham's bosom, instead of a prison, paradise. How rapidly have you changed all things in the way, because you have agreed with your adversary!

Sermon 60 on the New Testament

[CX. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Luke 13:6 , where we are told of the fig-tree, which bare no fruit for three years; and of the woman which was in an infirmity eighteen years; and on the words of Psalm 9:19 , Arise, O Lord; let not man prevail: let the nations be judged in your sight.

1. Touching the fig-tree which had its three years' trial, and bare no fruit, and the woman which was in an infirmity eighteen years, hearken to what the Lord may grant me to say. The fig-tree is the human race. And the three years are the three times; one before the Law, the second under the Law, the third under grace. Now there is nothing unsuitable in understanding by the fig-tree the human race. For when the first man sinned, he covered his nakedness with fig-leaves; covered those members, from which we derive our birth. For what before his sin should have been his glory, after sin became his shame. So before that, they were naked, and were not ashamed. For they had no reason to blush, when no sin had gone before; nor could they blush for their Creator's works, because they had not yet mingled any evil work of their own with the good works of their Creator. For they had not yet eaten of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, of which they had been forbidden to eat. After then that they had eaten and sinned, the human race sprang from them; that is, man from man, debtor from debtor, mortal from mortal, sinner from sinner. In this tree then he entitles those, who through the whole range of time would not bear fruit; and for this cause the axe was hanging over the unfruitful tree. The gardener intercedes for it, punishment is deferred, that help may be administered. Now the gardener who intercedes, is every saint who within the Church prays for those who are without the Church. And what does he pray? Lord, let it alone this year also; that is, in this time of grace, spare the sinners, spare the unbelievers, spare the barren, spare the unfruitful. I will dig about it, and put a basket of dung about it; if it bear fruit, well; but if not, you shall come and cut it down. You shall come: When? You shall come in judgment, when You shall come to judge the quick and dead. Meanwhile they are spared. But what is the digging? What is the digging about it, but the teaching lowliness and repentance? For a ditch is low ground. The basket of dung understand in its good effects. It is filthy, but it produces fruit. The gardener's filth is the sinner's sorrows. They who repent, repent in filthy robes; if, that is, they understand aright, and repent in truth. To this tree then is it said, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

2. What is that woman who was in an infirmity eighteen years? In six days God finished His works. Three times six are eighteen. What the three years then in the tree signified, that do the eighteen years in this woman. She was bent down, she could not look up; because in vain did she hear, Up with your hearts. But the Lord made her straight. There is hope then, for the children, that is, even until the day of judgment come. Man ascribes much to himself. Yet what is man? A righteous man is something great. But yet a righteous man is righteous only by the grace of God. For what is man, save that you are mindful of him? Would you see what man is? All men are liars. We have chanted, Arise, Lord; let not man prevail. What is, let not man prevail? Were not the Apostles men? Were not Martyrs men? The Lord Jesus Himself, without ceasing to be God, vouchsafed to be Man. What then is, Arise, Lord; let not man prevail? If all men are liars; arise, Truth, let not falsehood prevail. If man then would be anything good, it must not be of anything of his own. For if he should wish to be anything of his own he will be a liar. If he would wish to be true, he must be so of that which is from God, not of anything of his own.

3. Therefore, Arise, Lord; let not man prevail. So much did lying prevail before the flood, that after the flood only eight men remained. By them the earth was again replenished with lying men, and out of them was elected the people of God. Many miracles were wrought, divine benefits imparted. They were brought right through to the land of promise, delivered from Egyptian bondage: Prophets were raised up among them, they received the temple, they received the priesthood, they received the anointing, they received the Law. Yet of this very people was it said afterwards, The strange children have lied unto me. At last He was sent who had been promised afore by the Prophets. Let not man prevail, even the more, because that God was made Man. But even He, though He did divine works, was despised, though He showed forth so many acts of mercy, He was apprehended, He was scourged, He was hanged. Thus far did man prevail, to apprehend the Son of God, to scourge the Son of God, to crown the Son of God with thorns, to hang the Son of God upon the tree. So far did man prevail: how far, but up to the time that having been taken down from the tree, He was laid in the sepulchre? If He had remained there, man would have prevailed indeed. But this prophecy addresses the very Lord Jesus Himself, saying, Arise, Lord, let not man prevail. O Lord, You have vouchsafed to come in the flesh, the Word made Flesh. The Word above us, the Flesh among us, the Word-flesh between God and Man: You chose a virgin to be born from according to the flesh, when You were to be conceived, You found a Virgin; when You were born, You left a Virgin. But You were not acknowledged; You were Seen, and yet wast hidden. Infirmity was seen, Power was hidden. All this was done, that You might shed that Blood, which is our Price. Thou did so great miracles, gave health to the weaknesses of the sick, showed forth many acts of mercy, and received evil for good. They mocked You, Thou hung upon the tree; the ungodly wagged their heads before You, and said, If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Had You then lost Your power, or rather were Thou showing forth Your Patience? And yet they mocked You, and yet they derided You, yet, when You were slain, they went away as if victorious. Lo, You are laid in the sepulchre: Arise, Lord, let not man prevail. Let not the ungodly enemy prevail, let not the blind Jew prevail. For when You were crucified, the Jew in his blindness seemed to himself to have prevailed. Arise, Lord, let not man prevail. It is done, yea, it is done. And now what remains, but that the nations be judged in your sight? For He has risen again, as you know, and ascended into heaven; and from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

4. Ah! unfruitful tree, mock not, because you are yet spared; the axe is delayed, be not secure; He will come and you shall be cut down. Believe that He will come. All these things which now ye see, once were not. Once the Christian people were not over the whole world. It was read of in prophecy, not seen in the earth; now it is both read and seen. Thus was the Church herself completed. It was not said to her, See, O daughter, and hear; but, Hear and see. Hear the predictions, see the completions. As then, my beloved Brethren, Christ had once not been born of a Virgin, but His birth was promised, and He was born; He had once not done His miracles, they were promised, and He did them: He had not yet suffered, it was promised, and so it came to pass: He had not risen again, it was foretold, and so fulfilled: His Name was not throughout the world, it was foretold, and so fulfilled: the idols were not destroyed and broken down, it was foretold, and so fulfilled: heretics had not assailed the Church, it was foretold, and so fulfilled. So also the Day of Judgment is not yet, but seeing it has been foretold, it shall be fulfilled. Can it be that He who in so many things has shown Himself true, should be false touching the Day of Judgment? He has given us a bond of His promises. For God has made Himself a debtor, not by owing ought, that is, not by borrowing; but by promising. We cannot therefore say to Him, Give back what You have received. Since who has first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? We cannot say to Him, Give what You have received; but we say without scruple, Give what You have promised.

5. For hence it is that we are bold to say, day by day, Your kingdom come; that when His kingdom comes, we too may reign with Him. Which has been promised to us in these words; Then will I say unto them, Come, you blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. But assuredly only if we shall have done what follows in that place. For I was an hungred, and you gave Me meat, etc. He made these promises to our fathers; but He has given us a security, for us too to read. If He who has vouchsafed to give us this security, were to make a reckoning with us and say, Read my debts, the debts, that is, of my promises, and reckon up what I have already paid, and reckon also what I still owe; see how many I have paid already; and what I owe is but little; will you for that little that remains, think Me an untrustworthy promiser? What should we have to answer against this most evident truth? Let him then who is barren repent, and bear fruit worthy of repentance. He that is bent down, who looks only on the earth, rejoices in earthly happiness, who thinks this the only happy life, where he may be happy, and who believes no other can be; whosoever he be that is so bent down, let him be made straight; if he cannot by himself, let him call upon God. For was that woman made straight by herself? Woe had it been for her, if He had not stretched out His Hand.

Sermon 61 on the New Testament

[CXI. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Luke 13:21-23 , where the kingdom of God is said to be like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal; and of that which is written in the same chapter, Lord, are they few that are saved?

1. The three measures of meal of which the Lord spoke, is the human race. Recollect the deluge; three only remained, from whom the rest were to be re-peopled. Noe had three sons, by them was repaired the human race. That holy woman who hid the leaven, is Wisdom. Lo, the whole world cries out in the Church of God, I know that the Lord is great. Yet doubtless there are but few who are saved. You remember a question which was lately set before us out of the Gospel, Lord, it was said, are there few that be saved? What said the Lord to this? He did not say, Not few, but many are they who are saved. He did not say this. But what said He, when He had heard, Are there few that be saved? Strive to enter by the strait gate. When you hear then, Are there few that be saved? the Lord confirmed what He heard. Through the strait gate but few can enter. In another place He says Himself, Strait and narrow is the way which leads unto life, and few there be that go thereby: but broad and spacious is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be which walk thereby. Why rejoice we in great numbers? Give ear to me, you few. I know that you are many, who hear me, yet but few of you hear to obey. I see the floor, I look for the grain. And hardly is the grain seen, when the floor is being threshed; but the time is coming, that it shall be winnowed. But few then are saved in comparison of the many that shall perish. For these same few will constitute in themselves a great mass. When the Winnower shall come with His fan in His Hand, He will cleanse His floor, and lay up the wheat into the garner; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire. Let not the chaff scoff at the wheat; in this He speaks truth, and deceives no one. Be then in yourselves among many a many, few though ye be in comparison of a certain many. So large a mass is to come out of this floor, as to fill the garner of heaven. For the Lord Christ would not contradict Himself, who has said, Many there are who enter in by the narrow gate, many who go to ruin through the wide gate; contradict Himself, who has in another place said, Many shall come from the East and West. Many then are the few; both few and many. Are the few one sort, and the many another? No. But the few are themselves the many; few in comparison of the lost, many in the society of the Angels. Hearken, dearly Beloved. The Apocalypse has this written; After this I beheld of all languages, and nations, and tribes, a great multitude, which no man can number, coming with white robes and palms. This is the mass of the saints. With how much clearer voice will the floor say, when it has been fanned, separated from the crowd of ungodly, and evil, and false Christians, when those who press and do not touch (for a certain woman in the Gospel touched, the crowd pressed Christ), shall have been severed unto everlasting fire; when all they then, who are to be damned shall have been separated off, with how great assurance will the purified mass, standing at the Right Hand, fearing now for itself the admixture of no evil men, nor the loss of any of the good, now about to reign with Christ, say, I know that the Lord is great!

2. If then, my Brethren (I am speaking to the grain), if they acknowledge what I say, predestined unto life eternal, let them speak by their works, not by their voices. I am constrained to speak to you, what I ought not. For I ought to find in you matter of praise, not to seek subjects for admonition. Yet see I will say but a few words, I will not dwell upon it. Acknowledge the duty of hospitality, thereby some have attained unto God. You take in some stranger, whose companion in the way you yourself also art; for strangers are we all. He is a Christian who, even in his own house and in his own country, acknowledges himself to be a stranger. For our country is above, there we shall not be strangers. For every one here below, even in his own house, is a stranger. If he be not a stranger, let him not pass on from hence. If pass on he must, he is a stranger. Let him not deceive himself, a stranger he is; whether he will or not, he is a stranger. And he leaves that house to his children, one stranger to other strangers. Why? If you were at an inn, would you not depart when another comes? The same you do even in your own house. Your father left a place to you, you will some day leave it to your children. Neither do you abide here, as one who is to abide always, nor to those who are so to abide, will you leave it. If we are all passing away, let us do something which cannot pass away, that when we shall have passed away, and have come there whence we may not pass away, we may find our good works there. Christ is the keeper, why do you fear lest you should lose what you spend on the poor? Let us turn to the Lord, etc.

And after the Sermon.

I suggest to you, Beloved, what ye know already. Tomorrow breaks the anniversary day of the venerable lord Aurelius' ordination; he asks and admonishes you, dear Brethren, by my humble ministry, that you would be so good as to meet together with all devotion at the basilica of Faustus. Thanks be to God.

Sermon 62 on the New Testament

[XCII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Luke 14:16 , A certain man made a great supper, etc.

Delivered in the basilica Restituta.

1. Holy lessons have been set forth before us, to which we should both give ear, and upon which by the Lord's help I would deliver some observations. In the Apostolic lesson thanks are rendered unto the Lord for the faith of the Gentiles, of course, because it was His work. In the Psalm we have said, O God of hosts, turn us, and show us Your Face, and we shall be saved. In the Gospel we have been called to a supper; yea, rather others have been called, we not called, but led; not only led, but even forced. For so have we heard, that a certain Man made a great supper. Who is this Man, but the Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus? He sent that those who had been invited might come, for the hour was now come, that they should come. Who are they who had been invited, but those who had been called by the Prophets who were sent before? When? Of old, ever since the Prophets were sent, they invited to Christ's supper. They were sent then to the people of Israel. Often were they sent, often did they call men, to come at the hour of supper. But they received those who invited them, refused the supper. What means they received those who invited them, refused the supper? They read the Prophets and killed Christ. But when they killed Him, then though they knew it not, they prepared a Supper for us. When the Supper was now prepared, when Christ had been offered up, when the Supper of the Lord, which the faithful know, had been set forth after the resurrection of Christ, and established by His Hands and Mouth, were the Apostles sent to them, to whom the Prophets had been sent before. Come ye to the supper.

2. They who would not come made excuses. And how did they excuse themselves? There were three excuses: One said, I have bought a farm, and I go to see it; have me excused. Another said, I have bought five pairs of oxen, and I go to prove them; I pray you have me excused. A third said, I have married a wife, have me excused; I cannot come. Do we suppose that these are not the excuses, which hinder all men, who decline to come to this supper? Let us look into them, discuss, find them out; but only that we may beware. In the purchase of the farm, the spirit of domination is marked out; therefore pride is rebuked. For men are delighted to have a farm, to hold, to possess it, to have men in it under them, to have dominion. An evil vice, the first vice. For the first man wished to have dominion, in that he would not that any should have dominion over him. What is to have dominion, but to take pleasure in one's own power? There is a greater power, let us submit ourselves to it, that we may be able to be safe. I have bought a farm, have me excused. Having discovered pride, he would not come.

3. Another said, I have bought five pairs of oxen. Would it not have been enough, I have bought oxen? Something beyond doubt there is, which by its very obscurity challenges us to seek out, and understand; and in that it is shut, He exhorts us to knock. The five pairs of oxen are the senses of this body. There are numbered five senses of this body, as is known to all; and they who, it may be, do not consider it, will doubtless perceive it on being reminded of it. There are then found to be five senses of this body. In the eyes is the sight, the hearing in the ears, the smell in the nose, the taste in the mouth, the touch in all the members. We have perception of white and black, and things colored in whatever way, light and dark, by the sight. Harsh and musical sounds, we have perception of by the hearing. Of sweet and offensive smells, we have perception by the smell. Of things sweet and bitter by the taste. Of things hard and soft, smooth and rough, warm and cold, heavy and light, by the touch. They are five, and they are pairs. Now that they are pairs, is seen most easily in the case of the three first senses. There are two eyes, two ears, two nostrils; see three pairs. In the mouth, that is in the sense of taste, a certain doubling is found, because nothing affects the taste, unless it is touched by the tongue and the palate. The pleasure of the flesh which pertains to the touch, has this doubling in a less obvious way. For there is both an outer and an inner touch. And so it too is double. Why are they called pairs of oxen? Because by these senses of the body, earthly things are sought for. For oxen turn up the earth. So there are men far off from faith, given up to earthly things, occupied in the things of the flesh; who will not believe anything but what they attain to by the five senses of their body. In those five senses do they lay down for themselves the rules of their whole will. I will not believe, says one, anything but what I see. See, here is what I know, and am sure of. Such a thing is white, or black, or round, or square, or colored so and so; this I know, am sensible of, have a hold of; nature itself teaches it me. I am not forced to believe what you cannot show me. Or it is a voice: I perceive that it is a voice; it sings well, it sings ill, it is sweet, it is harsh. I know, I know this, it has come to me. There is a good or a bad smell: I know, I perceive it. This is sweet, this is bitter; this is salt, this insipid. I know not what you would tell me more. By the touch I know what is hard, what is soft; what is smooth, what is rough; what is warm, and what cold. What more would you show me?

4. By such an impediment was our Apostle Thomas held back, who as to the Lord Christ, the resurrection that is of Christ, would not believe even his own eyes only. Unless, says he, I put my fingers into the places of the nails and wounds, and unless I put my hand into His side, I will not believe. And the Lord who could have risen again without any vestige of a wound, kept the scars, that they might be touched by the doubting Apostle, and the wounds of his heart be healed. And yet as designing to call to His supper others, against the excuse of the five pairs of oxen, He said, Blessed they who do not see, and believe. We, my Brethren, who have been called to this supper, have not been kept back by these five pairs. For we have not in this age desired to see the Face of the Lord's Body, nor have we longed to hear the Voice proceeding out of the mouth of that Body; we have not sought in Him for any passing odour. A certain woman anointed Him with most costly ointment, that house was filled with the odour; but we were not there; lo, we did not smell, yet we believe. He gave to the disciples the Supper consecrated by His Own Hands; but we did not sit down at that Feast, and yet we daily eat this same Supper by faith. And do not think it strange that in that supper which He gave with His Own Hand, one was present without faith: the faith that appeared, afterwards was more than a compensation for that faithlessness then. Paul was not there who believed, Judas was there who betrayed. How many now too in this same Supper, though they saw not then that table, nor beheld with their eyes, nor tasted with their mouths, the bread which the Lord took in His Hands, yet because it is the same as is now prepared, how many now also in this same Supper, eat and drink judgment to themselves?

5. But whence arose an occasion, so to say, to the Lord, to speak of this supper? One of them that sat at meat with Him (for He was at a feast, whither He had been invited), had said, Blessed are they who eat bread in the kingdom of God. He sighed as though after distant things, and the Bread Himself was sitting down before him. Who is the Bread of the kingdom of God, but He who says, I am the Living Bread which came down from heaven? Do not get your mouth ready, but your heart. On this occasion it was that the parable of this supper was set forth. Lo, we believe in Christ, we receive Him with faith. In receiving Him we know what to think of. We receive but little, and we are nourished in heart. It is not then what is seen, but what is believed, that feeds us. Therefore we too have not sought for that outward sense; nor have we said, Let them believe who have seen with their eyes, and handled with their hands the Lord Himself after His resurrection, if what is said be true; we do not touch Him, why should we believe? If we were to entertain such thoughts, we should be kept back from the supper by those five pairs of oxen. That ye may know, Brethren, that not the gratification of these five senses, which softens and ministers pleasure, but a kind of curiosity was denoted, He did not say, 'I have bought five pairs of oxen,' and I go to feed them; but, I go to prove them. He who wishes to prove by the pairs of oxen, does not wish to be in doubt, just as St. Thomas by these pairs did not wish to be in doubt. Let me see, let me touch, let me put in my fingers. 'Behold,' says the Lord, 'put in your fingers along My Side, and be not unbelieving.' For your sake have I been slain; at the place which you wish to touch, have I shed My Blood, that I might redeem you; and do you still doubt of Me, unless you touch Me? Behold, this too I grant; behold, this too I show you; touch, and believe; find out the place of My wound, heal the wound of your doubting.

6. The third said, I have married a wife. This is the pleasure of the flesh, which is a hindrance to many: and I would that it were so only without, and not within! There are men who say, There is no happiness for a man, if he have not the pleasures of the flesh. These are they whom the Apostle censures, saying, 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die.' Who has risen to this life from the other? Who has ever told us what goes on there? We take away with us, what in the time present makes our happiness. He that speaks thus, has married a wife, attaches himself to the flesh, places his delight in the pleasures of the flesh, excuses himself from the supper; let him look well to it that he die not by an inward famine. Attend to John, the holy Apostle and Evangelist; Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. O you who come to the Supper of the Lord, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. He did not say, Have not; but, Love not. You have had, possessed, loved. The love of earthly things, is the bird-lime of the spirit's wings. Lo, you have desired, you have stuck fast. Who will give you wings as of a dove? When will you fly, whither you may in deed, seeing you have perversely wished to rest here, where you have to your hurt stuck fast? Love not the world, is the divine trumpet. By the voice of this trumpet unceasingly is it proclaimed to the compass of the earth, and to the whole world, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. Whosoever loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the ambition of life. He begins at the last with which the Gospel ends. He begins at that, at which the Gospel made an end. The lust of the flesh, I have married a wife. The lust of the eyes, I have bought five pairs of oxen. The ambition of life, I have bought a farm.

7. Now these senses are denoted by the mention of the eyes only, the whole by a part, because the pre-eminence in the five senses belongs to the eyes. Wherefore though sight belongs peculiarly to the eyes, we are accustomed to use the word seeing through all the five senses. How? In the first place, in relation to the eyes themselves we say; See how white it is, look and see how white it is: this has relation to the eyes. Hear and see how musical it is! Could we say conversely, Hear and see how white it is? This expression, see, runs through all the senses; whereas the distinguishing expression of the other senses does not in its turn run through it. Mark and see how musical; smell and see how agreeable it is; taste and see how sweet it is; touch and see how soft it is. And yet surely since they are senses, we should rather say thus; Hear and be sensible how musical it is; smell and be sensible how agreeable it is; taste and be sensible how sweet it is; touch and be sensible how hot it is; handle and be sensible how smooth it is; handle and be sensible how soft it is. But we say none of these. For thus the Lord Himself after His resurrection when He appeared to His disciples, and when though they saw Him they still wavered in faith supposing that they saw a spirit, said, Why do ye doubt, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? See My Hands and My Feet. It is not enough to say, See; He says, Touch, and handle, and see. Look and see, handle and see; with the eyes alone see, and see by all the senses. Because He was looking for the inner sense of faith, He offered Himself to the outward senses of the body. We have made no attainment in the Lord by these outward senses, we have heard with our ears, have believed with our heart; and this hearing not from His mouth, but from the mouth of His preachers, from their mouths who were already at the supper, and who by the pouring forth of what they there drunk in invited us.

8. Let us away then with vain and evil excuses, and come we to the supper by which we may be made fat within. Let not the puffing up of pride keep us back, let it not lift us up, nor unlawful curiosity scare us, and turn us away from God; let not the pleasure of the flesh hinder us from the pleasure of the heart. Let us come, and be filled. And who came but the beggars, the maimed, the halt, the blind? But there came not there the rich, and the whole, who walked, as they thought, well, and saw acutely; who had great confidence in themselves, and were therefore in the more desperate case, in proportion as they were more proud. Let the beggars come, for He invites them, who, though He was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we beggars through His poverty might be enriched. Let the maimed come, for they that are whole need not a physician, but they that are in evil case. Let the halt come who may say to Him, Set in order my steps in Your paths. Let the blind come who may say, Enlighten my eyes, that I may never sleep in death. Such as these came at the hour, when those who had been first invited, had been rejected for their own excuses: they came at the hour, they entered in from the streets and lanes of the city. And the servant who had been sent, brought answer, Lord, it is done as You have commanded, and yet there is room. Go out, says He, into the highways and hedges, and compel those whom you shall find to come in. Whom you shall find wait not till they choose to come, compel them to come in. I have prepared a great supper, a great house, I cannot suffer any place to be vacant in it. The Gentiles came from the streets and lanes: let the heretics come from the hedges, here they shall find peace. For those who make hedges, their object is to make divisions. Let them be drawn away from the hedges, let them be plucked up from among the thorns. They have stuck fast in the hedges, they are unwilling to be compelled. Let us come in, they say, of our own good will. This is not the Lord's order, Compel them, says he, to come in. Let compulsion be found outside, the will arise within.

Sermon 63 on the New Testament

[CXIII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Luke 16:9 , Make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness, etc.

1. Our duty is to give to others the admonitions we have received ourselves. The recent lesson of the Gospel has admonished us to make friends of the mammon of iniquity, that they too may receive those who do so into everlasting habitations. But who are they that shall have everlasting habitations, but the Saints of God? And who are they who are to be received by them into everlasting habitations, but they who serve their need, and minister cheerfully to their necessities? Accordingly let us remember, that in the last judgment the Lord will say to those who shall stand on His right hand, I was an hungred, and you gave Me meat; and the rest which you know. And upon their enquiring when they had afforded these good offices to Him, He answered, When you did it to one of the least of Mine, you did it unto Me. These least are they who receive into everlasting habitations. This He said to them on the right hand, because they did so: and the contrary He said to them on the left, because they would not. But what have they on the right hand who did so, received, or rather, what are they to receive? Come, says He, ye blessed of My Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was an hungred, and you gave Me meat. When you did it to one of the least of Mine, you did it unto Me. Who then are these least ones of Christ? They are those who have left all they had, and followed Him, and have distributed whatever they had to the poor; that unencumbered and without any worldly fetter they might serve God, and might lift their shoulders free from the burdens of the world, and winged as it were aloft. These are the least. And why the least? Because lowly, because not puffed up, not proud. Yet weigh them in the scales, these least ones, and you will find them a heavy weight.

2. But what means it, that He says they are friends of the mammon of iniquity? What is the mammon of iniquity? First, what is mammon? For it is not a Latin word. It is a Hebrew word, and cognate to the Punic language. For these languages are allied to one another by a kind of nearness of signification. What the Punics call mammon, is called in Latin, lucre. What the Hebrews call mammon, is called in Latin, riches. That we may express the whole then in Latin, our Lord Jesus Christ says this, Make to yourselves friends of the riches of iniquity. Some, by a bad understanding of this, plunder the goods of others, and bestow some of that upon the poor, and so think that they do what is enjoined them. For they say, To plunder the goods of others, is the mammon of iniquity; to spend some of it, especially on the poor saints, this is to make friends with the mammon of iniquity. This understanding of it must be corrected, yea, must be utterly effaced from the tablets of your heart. I would not that you should so understand it. Give alms of your righteous labours: give out of that which you possess rightfully. For you cannot corrupt Christ your Judge, that He should not hear you together with the poor, from whom you take away. For if you were to despoil any one who was weak, yourself being stronger and of greater power, and he were to come with you to the judge, any man you please on this earth, who had any power of judging, and he were to wish to plead his cause with you; if you were to give anything of the spoil and plunder of that poor man to the judge, that he might pronounce judgment in your favour; would that judge please even you? True, he has pronounced judgment in your favour, and yet so great is the force of justice, that he would displease even you. Do not then represent God to yourself as such an one as this. Do not set up such an idol in the temple of your heart. Your God is not such as you ought not to be yourself. If you would not judge so, but would judge justly; even so your God is better than you: He is not inferior to you: He is more just, He is the fountain of justice. Whatsoever good you have done, you have gotten from Him; and whatsoever good you have given vent to, you have drunk in from Him. Do you praise the vessel, because it has something from Him, and blame the fountain? Do not give alms out of usury and increase. I am speaking to the faithful, am speaking to those to whom we distribute the body of Christ. Be in fear and amend yourselves: that I may not have hereafter to say, You do so, and you too do so. Yet I trow, that if I should do so, you ought not to be angry with me, but with yourselves, that you may amend yourselves. For this is the meaning of the expression in the Psalm, Be angry, and sin not. I would have you be angry, but only that you may not sin. Now in order that you may not sin, with whom ought ye to be angry but with yourselves? For what is a penitent man, but a man who is angry with himself? That he may obtain pardon, he exacts punishment from himself; and so with good right says to God, Turn Your eyes from my sins, for I acknowledge my sin. If you acknowledge it, then He will pardon it. You then who have done so wrongly, do so no more: it is not lawful.

3. But if you have done so already, and have such money in your possession, and have filled your coffers thereby, and were heaping up treasure by these means: what you have comes of evil, now then add not evil to it, and make to yourselves friends of the mammon of iniquity. Had Zacchaeus what he had from good sources? Read and see. He was the chief of the publicans, that is, he was one to whom the public taxes were paid in: by this he had his wealth. He had oppressed many, had taken from many, and so had heaped much together. Christ entered into his house, and salvation came upon his house; for so said the Lord Himself, This day is salvation come to this house. Now mark the method of this salvation. First he was longing to see the Lord, because he was little in stature: but when the crowd hindered him, he got up into a sycamore tree, and saw Him as He passed by. But Jesus saw him, and said, Zacchaeus, come down, I must abide at your house. You are hanging there, but I will not keep you in suspense. I will not, that is, put you off. You wished to see Me as I passed by, today shall you find Me dwelling at your house. So the Lord went in unto him, and he, filled with joy, said, The half of my goods I give to the poor. Lo, how swiftly he runs, who runs to make friends of the mammon of iniquity. And lest he should be held guilty on any other account, he said, If I have taken anything from any man, I will restore fourfold. He inflicted sentence of condemnation on himself, that he might not incur damnation. So then, you who have anything from evil sources, do good therewith. You who have not, wish not to acquire by evil means. Be good yourself, who does good with what is evilly acquired: and when with this evil you begin to do any good, do not remain evil yourself. Your money is being converted to good, and do you yourself continue evil?

4. There is indeed another way of understanding it; and I will not withhold it too. The mammon of iniquity is all the riches of this world, from whatever source they come. For howsoever they be heaped together, they are the mammon of iniquity, that is, the riches of iniquity. What is, they are the riches of iniquity? It is money which iniquity calls by the name of riches. For if we seek for the true riches, they are different from these. In these Job abounded, naked as he was, when he had a heart full to Godward, and poured out praises like most costly gems to his God, when he had lost all he had. And from what treasure did he this, if he had nothing? These then are the true riches. But the other sort are called riches by iniquity. Thou dost possess these riches. I blame it not: an inheritance has come to you, your father was rich, and he left it to you. Or you have honestly acquired them: you have a house full of the fruit of just labour; I blame it not. Yet even thus do not call them riches. For if you call them riches, you will love them: and if you love them, you will perish with them. Lose, that you be not lost: give, that you may gain: sow, that you may reap. Call not these riches, for the true they are not. They are full of poverty, and liable ever to accidents. What sort of riches are those, for whose sake you are afraid of the robber, for whose sake you are afraid of your own servant, lest he should kill you, and take them away, and fly? If they were true riches, they would give you security.

5. So then those are the true riches, which when we have them, we cannot lose. And lest haply you should fear a thief because of them, they will be there where none can take them away. Hear your Lord, Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where no thief approaches. Then will they be riches, when you have removed them hence. As long as they are in the earth, they are not riches. But the world calls them riches, iniquity calls them so. God calls them therefore the mammon of iniquity, because iniquity calls them riches. Hear the Psalm, O Lord, deliver me out of the hand of strange children, whose mouth has spoken vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of iniquity. Whose sons are as new plants, firmly rooted from their youth. Their daughters decked out, adorned round about after the similitude of a temple. Their storehouses full, flowing out from this into that. Their oxen fat, their sheep fruitful, multiplying in their goings forth. There is no breach of wall, nor going forth, no crying out in their streets. Lo, what sort of happiness the Psalmist has described: but hear what is the case with them whom he has set forth as children of iniquity. Whose mouth has spoken vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of iniquity. Thus has he set them forth, and said that their happiness is only upon the earth. And what did he add? They are happy the people that has these things. But who called them so? Strange children, aliens from the race, and belonging not to the seed of Abraham: they called the people happy that has these things. Who called them so? They whose mouth has spoken vanity. It is a vain thing then to call them happy who have these things. And yet they are called so by them, whose mouth has spoken vanity. By them the mammon of iniquity of the Gospel is called riches.

6. But what do you say? Seeing that these strange children that they whose mouth has spoken vanity, have called the people happy that has these things, what do you say? These are false riches, show me the true. Thou findest fault with these, show me what you praise. You wish me to despise these, show me what to prefer. Let the Psalmist speak himself. For he who said, they called the people happy that has these things, gives us such an answer, as if we had said to him, that is, to the Psalmist himself, Lo, this you have taken away from us, and nothing have you given us: lo, these, lo, these we despise; whereby shall we live, whereby shall we be happy? For they who have spoken, they will undertake to answer for themselves. For they have 'called' men 'who have' riches 'happy.' But what do you say? As if he had been thus questioned, he makes answer and says, They call the rich happy: but I say, Happy are the people whose is the Lord their God. Thus then you have heard of the true riches, make friends of the mammon of iniquity, and you shall be a happy people, whose is the Lord their God. At times we go along the way, and see very pleasant and productive estates, and we say, Whose estate is that? We are told, such a man's; and we say, Happy man! We speak vanity. Happy he whose is that house, happy he whose that estate, happy he whose that flock, happy he whose that servant, happy he whose is that household. Take away vanity if You would hear the truth. Happy he whose is the Lord his God. For not he who has that estate is happy: but he whose is that God. But in order to declare most plainly the happiness of possessions, you say that your estate has made you happy. And why? Because you live by it. For when you highly praise your estate, you say thus, It finds me food, I live by it. Consider whereby you really live. He by whom you live, is He to whom you say, With You is the fountain of life. Happy is the people whose God is the Lord. O Lord my God, O Lord our God, make us happy by You, that we may come unto You. We wish not to be happy from gold, or silver, or land, from these earthly, and most vain, and transitory goods of this perishable life. Let not our mouth speak vanity. Make us happy by You, seeing that we shall never lose You. When we shall once have gotten You, we shall neither lose You, nor be lost ourselves. Make us happy by You, because Happy is the people whose is the Lord their God. Nor will God be angry if we shall say of Him, He is our estate. For we read that the Lord is the portion of my inheritance. Grand thing, Brethren, we are both His inheritance, and He is ours, seeing that we both cultivate His service and He cultivates us. It is no derogation to His honour that He cultivates us. Because if we cultivate Him as our God, He cultivates us as His field. And, (that you may know that He does cultivate us) hear Him whom He has sent to us: I, says He, am the vine, you are the branches, My Father is the Husbandman. Therefore He does cultivate us. But if we yield fruit, He prepares for us His garner. But if under the attention of so great a hand we will be barren, and for good fruit bring forth thorns, I am loth to say what follows. Let us make an end with a theme of joy. Let us turn then to the Lord, etc.

Sermon 64 on the New Testament

[CXIV. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Luke 17:3 , If your brother sin, rebuke him, etc., touching the remission of sins.

Delivered at the Table of St. Cyprian, in the presence of Count Boniface.

1. The Holy Gospel which we heard just now as it was being read, has admonished touching the remission of sins. And on this subject must ye be admonished now by my discourse. For we are ministers of the word, not our own word, but the word of our God and Lord, whom no one serves without glory, whom no one despises without punishment. He then the Lord our God, who abiding with the Father made us, and having been made for us, re-made us, He the Lord our God Jesus Christ Himself says to us what we have heard just now in the Gospel. If, He says, your brother shall sin against you, rebuke him, and if he shall repent, forgive him; and if he shall sin against time seven times in a day, and shall come and say, I repent, forgive him. He would not have seven times in a day otherwise understood than as often as may be, lest haply he sin eight times, and you be unwilling to forgive. What then is seven times? Always, as often as he shall sin and repent. For this, Seven times in a day will I praise you, is the same as in another Psalm, His praise shall always be in my mouth. And there is the strongest reason why seven times should be put for that which is always: for the whole course of time revolves in a circle of seven coming and returning days.

2. Whosoever then you are that hast your thoughts on Christ, and desirest to receive what He has promised, be not slow to do that which He has enjoined. Now what has He promised? Eternal life. And what has He enjoined? That pardon be given to your brother. As if He had said to you, O man, give pardon to a man, so that I, who am God, may come unto you. But that I may pass over, or rather pass by for a while, those more exalted divine promises in which our Creator engages to make us equal with His Angels, that we may with Him, and in Him, and by Him, live without end; not to speak of this just now, do you not wish to receive of your God this very thing, which you are commanded to give your brother? This very thing, I say, which you are commanded to give your brother, do you not wish to receive from your Lord? Tell me if you wish it not; and so give it not. What is this, but that you should forgive him that asks you, if you require to be forgiven? But if you have nothing to be forgiven you, I dare to say, be unwilling to forgive. Though I ought not even to say this. Though you have nothing to be forgiven you, forgive.

3. You are just on the point of saying to me, But I am not God, I am a man, a sinner. God be thanked that you confess that you have sins. Forgive then, that they may be forgiven you. Yet the Lord Himself our God exhorts us to imitate Him. In the first place God Himself, Christ, exhorts us, of whom the Apostle Peter said, Christ has suffered for us, leaving you an example that you should follow His steps, who did no sin, neither was guile, found in His mouth. He then verily had no sin, yet did He die for our sins, and shed His Blood for the remission of sins. He took upon Him for our sakes what was not His due, that He might deliver us from what was due to us. Death was not due to Him, nor life to us. Why? Because we were sinners. Death was not due to Him, nor life to us; He received what was not due to Him, He gave what was not due to us. But since we are speaking of the remission of sins, lest ye should think it too high a thing to imitate Christ, hear the Apostle saying, Forgiving one another, even as God in Christ has forgiven you. Be therefore imitators of God. They are the Apostle's words, not mine. Is it indeed a proud thing to imitate God? Hear the Apostle, Be imitators of God as dearly beloved children. You are called a child: if you refuse to imitate Him, why do you seek His inheritance?

4. This would I say even if you had no sin which you might desire to be forgiven you. But as it is, whosoever you are, you are a man; though you be righteous, you are a man; whether you are a layman, or monk, or clerk, or Bishop, or Apostle, you are a man. Hear the Apostle's voice, If we shall say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. He, that famous John and an Evangelist, he whom the Lord Christ loved beyond all the rest, who lay on His breast, he says, If we shall say. He did not say, If you shall say that you have no sin, but if we shall say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. He joined himself in the guilt, that he might be joined in the pardon also. If we shall say. Consider who it is that says, If we shall say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we shall confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity. How does He cleanse? By forgiving, not as though He found nothing to punish, but as finding something to forgive. So then, Brethren, if we have sins, let us forgive them that ask us. Let us not retain enmities in our heart against another. For the retaining of enmities more than anything corrupts this heart of ours.

5. I would then that you should forgive, seeing that I find you asking forgiveness. You are asked, forgive: you are asked, and you will ask yourself; you are asked, forgive; you will ask to be forgiven; for, lo, the time of prayer will come: I have you fast in the words you will have to speak. You will say, Our Father, which art in heaven. For you will not be in the number of children, if you shall not say, Our Father. So then you will say, Our Father, which art in heaven. Follow on; Hallowed be Your Name. Say on, Your kingdom come. Follow still on, Your will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. See what you add next, Give us this day our daily bread. Where are your riches? So you are a beggar. Nevertheless in the mean while (it is the point I am speaking of), say what is next after, Give us this day our daily bread. Say what follows this: Forgive us our debts. Now you have come to my words, Forgive us our debts. By what right? By what covenant? On what condition? On what express stipulation? As we also forgive our debtors. It is but a small thing that you do not forgive; yea you do more, you lie unto God. The condition is laid down, the law fixed. Forgive as I forgive. Therefore He does not forgive, unless you forgive. Forgive as I forgive. You wish to be forgiven when you ask; forgive him that asks of you. He that is skilled in heaven's laws has dictated these prayers: He does not deceive you; ask according to the tenor of His heavenly voice: say, Forgive us, as we also forgive, and do what you say. He that lies in his prayers, loses the benefit he seeks: he that lies in his prayers, both loses his cause, and finds his punishment. And if any one lies to the emperor, he is convicted of his lie at his coming: but when you lie in prayer, you by your very prayer are convicted. For God does not seek for witness as regards you to convict you. He who dictated the prayers to you, is your Advocate: if you lie, He is a witness against you: if you do not amend yourself, He will be your Judge. So then both say it, and do. For if you say it not, you will not obtain making your requests contrary to the law; but if you say it and do it not, you will be further guilty of lying. There is no means of evading that verse, save by fulfilling what we say. Can we blot this verse out of our prayer? Would ye that clause, Forgive us our debts, should be there, and that we should blot out what follows, As we also forgive our debtors? You shall not blot it out, lest you be first blotted out yourself. So then in this prayer you say, Give, and you say, Forgive: that you may receive what you have not, and may be forgiven what you have done amiss. So then you wish to receive, give; you wish to be forgiven, forgive. It is a brief summary. Hear Christ Himself in another place, Forgive, and you shall be forgiven. What will you forgive? What others have sinned against you. What shall you be forgiven? What you have sinned yourselves. Forgive. Give, and there shall be given you what ye desire, eternal life. Support the temporal life of the poor man, sustain the poor man's present life, and for this so small and earthly seed you shall receive for harvest life eternal. Amen.

Sermon 65 on the New Testament

[CXV. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Luke 18:1 ,They ought always to pray, and not to faint, etc. And on the two who went up into the temple to pray: and of the little children who were presented unto Christ.

1. The lesson of the Holy Gospel builds us up unto the duty of praying and believing, and of not putting our trust in ourselves, but in the Lord. What greater encouragement to prayer than the parable which is proposed to us of the unjust judge? For an unjust judge, who feared not God, nor regarded man, yet gave ear to a widow who besought him, overcome by her importunity, not inclined thereto by kindness. If he then heard her prayer, who hated to be asked, how must He hear who exhorts us to ask? When therefore by this comparison from a contrary case the Lord had taught that men ought always to pray and not to faint, He added and said, Nevertheless, when the Son of Man shall come, do you think that He shall find faith on the earth? If faith fail, prayer perishes. For who prays for that which he does not believe? Whence also the blessed Apostle, when he exhorted to prayer, said, Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord, shall be saved. And in order to show that faith is the fountain of prayer, he went on and said, How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? So then that we may pray, let us believe; and that this same faith whereby we pray fail not, let us pray. Faith pours out prayer, and the pouring out of prayer obtains the strengthening of faith. Faith, I say, pours out prayer, the pouring out of prayer obtains strengthening even for faith itself. For that faith might not fail in temptations, therefore did the Lord say, Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. Watch, He says, and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. What is to enter into temptation, but to depart from faith? For so far temptation advances as faith gives way: and so far temptation gives way, as faith advances. For that you may know, Beloved, more plainly, that the Lord said, Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation, as touching faith lest it should fail and perish; He said in the same place of the Gospel, This night has Satan desired to sift you as wheat, and I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith fail not. He that defends prays, and shall not he pray who is in peril? For in the words of the Lord, when the Son of Man shall come, do you think that He shall find faith on the earth? He spoke of that faith, which is perfect. For it is scarce found on the earth. Lo! This Church of God is full: and who would come hither, if there were no faith? But who would not remove mountains, if there were full faith? Look at the very Apostles: they would not have left all they had, have trodden under foot this world's hope, and followed the Lord, if they had not had great faith; and yet if they had full faith, they would not have said to the Lord, Increase our faith. See again, that man confessing both of himself (behold faith, yet not full faith), who when he had presented to the Lord his son to be cured of an evil spirit, and was asked whether he believed, answered and said, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. Lord, says he, I believe, I believe; therefore there was faith. But help my unbelief, therefore there was not full faith.

2. But inasmuch as faith belongs not to the proud, but to the humble, He spoke this parable unto certain who seemed to themselves to be righteous, and despised others. Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee said, God, I thank You that I am not as the rest of men. He might at least have said, as many men. What does, as the rest of men, mean, but all except himself? I, he says, am just, the rest are sinners. I am not as the rest of men, unjust, extortioners, adulterers. And, lo, from your neighbour, the publican, you take occasion of greater pride. As, he says, this publican. I, he says, am alone, he is of the rest. I am not, says he, such as he is, through my righteous deeds, whereby I have no unrighteousness. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. In all his words seek out for any one thing that he asked of God, and you will find nothing. He went up to pray: he had no mind to pray to God, but to laud himself. Nay, it is but a small part of it, that he prayed not to God, but lauded himself. More than this he even mocked him that did pray. But the Publican stood afar off; and yet he was in deed near to God. The consciousness of his heart kept him off, piety brought him close. But the Publican stood afar off: yet the Lord regarded him near. For the Lord is high, yet has He respect unto the lowly. But those that are high as was this Pharisee, He knows afar off. The high indeed God knows afar off, but He does not pardon them. Hear still more the humility of the Publican. It is but a small matter that he stood afar off; he did not even lift up his eyes unto heaven. He looked not, that he might be looked upon. He did not dare to look upwards, his conscience pressed him down: but hope lifted him up. Hear again, he smote his breast. He punished himself: wherefore the Lord spared him for his confession. He smote his breast, saying, Lord, be merciful to me a sinner. See who he is that prays. Why do you marvel that God should pardon, when he acknowledges his own sin? Thus you have heard the case of the Pharisee and Publican; now hear the sentence; you have heard the proud accuser, you have heard the humble criminal; hear now the Judge. Verily I say unto you. The Truth says, God says, the Judge says it. Verily I say unto you, That Publican went down from the temple justified rather than that Pharisee. Tell us, Lord, the cause. Lo! I see that the publican goes down from the temple justified rather than the Pharisee. I ask why? Do you ask why? Hear why. Because every one that exalts himself shall be abased, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted. You have heard the sentence, beware of its evil cause. In other words, you have heard the sentence, beware of pride.

3. Let now those ungodly babblers, whosoever they be, who presume on their own strength, let them hear and see these things: let them hear who say, God made me a man, I make myself just. O you who are worse and more detestable than the Pharisee! The Pharisee in the Gospel did indeed call himself just, but yet he gave thanks to God for it. He called himself just, but yet he gave God thanks. I thank You, O God, that I am not as the rest of men. I thank You, O God. He gives God thanks, that he is not as the rest of men: and yet he is blamed as being proud and puffed up; not in that he gave God thanks, but in that he desired as it were no more to be added unto him. I thank you that I am not as the rest of men, unjust. So then you are just; so then you ask for nothing; so then you are full already; so then the life of man is not a trial upon earth; so then you are full already; so then you abound already, so then you have no ground for saying, Forgive us our debts! What must his case be then who impiously impugns grace, if he is blamed who give thanks proudly?

4. And, lo, after the case had been stated, and the sentence pronounced, little children also came forth, yea, rather, are carried and presented to be touched. To be touched by whom, but the Physician? Surely, it will be said, they must be whole. To whom are the infants presented to be touched? To whom? To the Saviour. If to the Saviour, they are brought to be saved. To whom, but to Him who came to seek and to save what was lost. How were they lost? As far as concerns them personally, I see that they are without fault, I am seeking for their guiltiness. Whence is it? I listen to the Apostle, By one man sin entered into the world. By one man, he says, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men by him in whom all sinned. Let then the little children come, let them come: let the Lord be heard. Suffer little children to come unto Me. Let the little ones come, let the sick come to the Physician, the lost to their Redeemer: let them come, let no man hinder them. In the branch they have not yet committed any evil, but they are ruined in their root. Let the Lord bless the small with the great. Let the Physician touch both small and great. The cause of the little ones we commend to their elders. Speak ye for them who are mute, pray for them who weep. If you are not their elders to no purpose, be ye their guardians: defend them who are not able yet to manage their own cause. Common is the loss, let the finding be common: we were lost all together, together be we found in Christ. Uneven is the desert, but common is the grace. They have no evil but what they have drawn from the source: they have no evil but what they have derived from the first original. Let not them keep them off from salvation, who to what they have so derived have added much more evil. The elder in age is the elder in iniquity too. But the grace of God effaces what you have derived, effaces too what you have added. For, where sin abounded, grace has superabounded.

Sermon 66 on the New Testament

[CXVI. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Luke 24:36 , He himself stood in the midst of them, and says unto them, peace be unto you, etc.

1. The Lord appeared to His disciples after His resurrection, as you have heard, and saluted them, saying, Peace be unto you. This is peace indeed, and the salutation of salvation: for the very word salutation has received its name from salvation. And what can be better than that Salvation Itself should salute man? For Christ is our Salvation. He is our Salvation, who was wounded for us, and fixed by nails to the tree, and being taken down from the tree, was laid in the sepulchre. And from the sepulchre He arose, with His wounds healed, His scars kept. For this He judged expedient for His disciples, that His scars should be kept, where by the wounds of their hearts might be healed. What wounds? The wounds of unbelief. For He appeared to their eyes, exhibiting real flesh, and they thought they saw a spirit. It is no light wound, this wound of the heart. Yea, they have made a malignant heresy who have abided in this wound. But do we suppose that the disciples had not been wounded, because they were so quickly healed? Only, Beloved, suppose, if they had continued in this wound, to think that the Body which had been buried, could not rise again, but that a spirit in the image of a body, deceived the eyes of men: if they had continued in this belief, yea, rather in this unbelief, not their wounds, but their death would have had to be bewailed.

2. But what said the Lord Jesus? Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts ascend into your hearts? If thoughts ascend into your heart, the thoughts come from the earth. But it is good for a man, not that a thought should ascend into his heart, but that his heart should itself ascend upwards, where the Apostle would have believers place their hearts, to whom he said, If you be risen with Christ, mind those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Seek those things which are above, not the things which are upon the earth. For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ your life shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory. In what glory? The glory of the resurrection. In what glory? Hear the Apostle saying of this body, It is sown in dishonour, it shall rise in glory. This glory the Apostles were unwilling to assign to their Master, their Christ, their Lord: they did not believe that His Body could rise from the sepulchre: they thought Him to be a Spirit, though they saw His flesh, and they believed not their very eyes. Yet we believe them who preach but do not show Him. Lo, they believed not Christ who showed Himself to them. Malignant wound! Let the remedies for these scars come forth. Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts ascend into your hearts? See My hands and My feet, where I was fixed with the nails. Handle and see. But ye see, and yet do not see. Handle and see. What? That a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see me have. When He had thus spoken, so it is written, He showed them His hands and His feet.

3. And while they were yet in hesitation, and wondered for joy. Now there was joy already, and yet hesitation continued. For a thing incredible had taken place, yet taken place it had. Is it at this day a thing incredible, that the Body of the Lord rose again from the sepulchre? The whole cleansed world has believed it; whoever has not believed it, has remained in his uncleanness. Yet at that time it was incredible: and persuasion was addressed not to the eyes only, but to the hands also, that by the bodily senses faith might descend into their heart, and that faith so descending into their heart might be preached throughout the world to them who neither saw nor touched, and yet without doubting believed. Have ye, says He, anything to eat? How much does the good Builder still to build up the edifice of faith? He did not hunger, yet He asked to eat. And He ate by an act of His power, not through necessity. So then let the disciples acknowledge the verity of His body, which the world has acknowledged at their preaching.

4. If haply there be any heretics who still in their hearts maintain that Christ exhibited Himself to sight, but that Christ's was not very flesh; let them now lay aside that error, and let the Gospel persuade them. We do but blame them for entertaining this conceit: He will damn them if they shall persevere in it. Who are you who dost not believe that a body laid in the sepulchre could rise again? If you are a Manichee, who dost not believe that He was crucified either, because you do not believe that He was even born, you declare that all that He showed was false. He showed what was false, and do you speak the truth? Thou dost not lie with your mouth, and did He lie in His body? Lo you suppose that He appeared unto the eyes of men what He really was not, that He was a spirit, not flesh. Hear Him: He loves you, let Him not condemn you. Hear Him speaking: lo, He speaks to you, you unhappy one, He speaks to you, Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts ascend into your heart? See, says He, My hands and My feet. Handle and see, because a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see Me have. This spoke the Truth, and did He deceive? It was a body then, it was flesh; that which had been buried, appeared. Let doubting perish, and meet praise ensue.

5. He showed himself then to the disciples. What is Himself? The Head of His Church. The Church was foreseen by Him as in you to be throughout the world, by the disciples it was not yet seen. He showed the Head, He promised the Body. For what did He add next? These are the words which I spoke to you, while I was yet with you. What is this, While I was yet with you? Was He not with them then when He was speaking to them? What is, when I was yet with you? Was with you as mortal, which now I am not. I was with you when I had yet to die. What is, with you? With you who were to die, Myself to die. Now I am no more with you: for I am with those who are to die, Myself to die no more forever. This then is what I said to you. What? That all things must be fulfilled which are written in the Law, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning Me. I told you that all things must be fulfilled. Then opened He their understanding. Come then, O Lord, employ Your keys, open, that we may understand. Lo, Thou dost tell all things, and yet are not believed. You are thought to be a spirit, art touched, art rudely handled, and yet they who touch You hesitate. Thou dost admonish them out of the Scriptures, and yet they understand You not. Their hearts are closed, open, and enter in. He did so. Then opened He their understanding. Open, O Lord, yea, open the heart of him who is in doubt concerning Christ. Open his understanding who believes that Christ was a phantom. Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures.

6. And He said to them. What? That thus it behooved. That thus it is written, and thus it behooved. What? That Christ should suffer, and rise from the dead the third day. And this they saw, they saw Him suffering, they saw Him hanging, they saw Him with them alive after His resurrection. What then did they not see? The Body, that is, the Church. Him they saw, her they saw not. They saw the Bridegroom, the Bride yet lay hid. Let him promise her too. Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day. This is the Bridegroom, what of the Bride? And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. This the disciples did not yet see: they did not yet see the Church throughout all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. They saw the Head, and they believed the Head touching the Body. By this which they saw, they believed that which they saw not. We too are like to them: we see something which they saw not, and something we do not see which they did see. What do we see, which they saw not? The Church throughout all nations. What do we not see, which they saw? Christ present in the flesh. As they saw Him, and believed concerning the Body, so do we see the Body; let us believe concerning the Head. Let what we have respectively seen help us. The sight of Christ helped them to believe the future Church: the sight of the Church helps us to believe that Christ has risen. Their faith was made complete, and ours is made complete also. Their faith was made complete from the sight of the Head, ours is made complete by the sight of the Body. Christ was made known to them wholly, and to us is He so made known: but He was not seen wholly by them, nor by us has He been wholly seen. By them the Head was seen, the Body believed. By us the Body has been seen, the Head believed. Yet to none is Christ lacking: in all He is complete, though to this day His Body remains imperfect. The Apostles believed; through them many of the inhabitants of Jerusalem believed; Judæa believed. Samaria believed. Let the members be added on, the building added on to the foundation. For no other foundation can any man lay, says the Apostle, than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus. Let the Jews rage madly, and be filled with jealousy: Stephen be stoned, Saul keep the raiment of them who stone him, Saul, one day to be the Apostle Paul. Let Stephen be killed, the Church of Jerusalem dispersed in confusion: out of it go forth burning brands, and spread themselves and spread their flame. For in the Church of Jerusalem, as it were burning brands were set on fire by the Holy Spirit, when they had all one soul, and one heart to God-ward. When Stephen was stoned, that pile suffered persecution: the brands were dispersed, and the world was set on fire.

7. And then intent on his furious schemes, that Saul received letters from the chief of the priests, and began his journey in his cruel rage, breathing out slaughter, thirsting for blood, to drag bound and to hurry off to punishment whomsoever he could, and from every quarter that he could, and to satiate himself with the shedding of their blood. But where was God, where was Christ, where He that had crowned Stephen? Where, but in heaven? Let Him now look on Saul, and mock him in his fury, and call from heaven, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?' I am in heaven, and you in earth, and yet you persecute Me. Thou dost not touch the body, but my members you are treading down. Yet what are you doing? What are you gaining? 'It is hard for you to kick against the pricks.' Kick as you will, you only distress yourself. Lay aside your fury then, recover soundness. Lay aside evil counsel, seek after good succour. By that voice he was struck to the earth. Who was struck to the earth? The persecutor. Lo, by that one word was he overcome. After what were you going, after what was your fury carrying you? Those whom you were seeking out, now you follow; whom you were persecuting, now for them you suffer persecution. He rises up the preacher, who was struck to the earth, the persecutor. He heard the Lord's voice. He was blinded, but in the body only, that he might be enlightened in heart. He was brought to Ananias, catechised on sundry points, baptized, and so came forth an Apostle. Speak then, preach, preach Christ, spread His doctrine, O you goodly leader of the flock, but lately a wolf. See him, mark him, who once was raging. But for me, God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. Spread the Gospel: scatter with your mouth what you have conceived in your heart. Let the nations hear, let the nations believe; let the nations multiply, let the Lord's empurpled spouse spring forth from the blood of Martyrs. And from her how many have come already, how many members have cleaved to the Head, and cleave to Him still and believe! They were baptized, and others shall be baptized, and after them shall others come. Then I say, at the end of the world shall the stones be joined to the foundation, living stones, holy stones, that at the end the whole edifice may be built by that Church, yea by this very Church which now sings the new song, while the house is in building. For so the Psalm itself says, When the house was in building after the captivity; and what says it, Sing unto the Lord a new song, sing unto the Lord all the earth. How great a house is this! But when does it sing the new song? When it is in building. When is it dedicated? At the end of the world. Its foundation has been already dedicated, because He has ascended into heaven, and dies no more. When we too shall have risen to die no more, then shall we be dedicated.

Sermon 67 on the New Testament

[CXVII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, John 1:1 , In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God, etc. Against the Arians.

1. The section of the Gospel which has been read, most dearly beloved brethren, looks for the pure eye of the heart. For from John's Gospel we have understood our Lord Jesus Christ according to His Divinity for the creating of the whole creation, and according to His Humanity for the recovery of the creature fallen. Now in this same Gospel we find what sort and how great a man was John, that from the dignity of the dispenser it may be understood of how great a price is the Word which could be announced by such a man; yea, rather how without price is That which surpasses all things. For any purchasable thing is either equal to the price, or it is below it, or it exceeds it. When any one procures a thing for as much as it is worth, the price is equal to the thing which is procured; when for less, it is below it; when for more, it exceeds it. But to the Word of God nothing can either be equalled, or to exchange can anything be below It, or above It. For all things can be below the Word of God, for that all things were made by Him; yet are they not in such wise below, as if they were the price of the Word, that any one should give something to receive That. Yet if we may say so, and if any principle or custom of speaking admit this expression, the price for procuring the Word, is the procurer himself, who will have given himself for himself to This Word. Accordingly when we buy anything we look out for something to give, that for the price we give we may have the thing we wish to buy. And that which we give is without us; and if it was with us before, what we give becomes without us, that that which we procure may be with us. Whatever price the purchaser may find it, it must needs be such as that he gives what he has, and receives what he has not; yet so that he from whom the price goes himself remains, and that for which he gives the price is added to him. But whoever would procure this Word, whoever would have it, let him not seek for anything without himself to give, let him give himself. And when he shall have done this, he does not lose himself, as he loses the price when he buys anything.

2. The Word of God then is set forth before all men; let them who can, procure It, and they can who have a godly will. For in That Word is peace; and peace on earth is to men of good will. So then whoever will procure it, let him give himself. This is as it were the price of the Word, if so it may in any way be said, when he that gives does not lose himself, and gains the Word for which he gives himself, and gains himself too in the Word to whom he gives himself. And what gives he to the Word? Not ought that is any other's than His, for whom he gives himself; but what by the Same Word was made, that is given back to Him to be remade; All things were made by Him. If all things, then of course man too. If the heaven, and earth, and sea, and all things that are therein, if the whole creation; of course more manifestly he, who being made after the image of God by the Word was made man.

3. I am not now, brethren, discussing how the words, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, can be understood. After an ineffable sort it may be understood; it cannot by the words of man he made to be understood. I am treating of the Word of God, and telling you why It is not understood. I am not now speaking to make It understood, but I tell you what hinders It from being understood. For He is a certain Form, a Form not formed, but the Form of all things formed; a Form unchangeable, without failure, without decay, without you, without place, surpassing all things, being in all things, as at once a kind of foundation in which they are, and a Head-stone under which they are. If you say that all things are in Him, you lie not. For This Word is called the Wisdom of God; and we have it written, In Wisdom have You made all things. Lo, then in Him are all things: and yet in that He is God, under Him are all things. I am showing how incomprehensible is what has been read; yet it has been read, not that it should be comprehended by man, but that man should sorrow that he comprehends it not, and find out whereby he is hindered from comprehending, and remove those hindrances, and, himself changed from worse to better, aspire after the perception of the unchangeable Word. For the Word does not advance or increase by the addition of those who know It; but is Entire, if you abide; Entire, if you depart; Entire, when you return; abiding in Itself, and renewing all things. It is then the Form of all things, the Form unfashioned, without you, as I have said, and without space. For whatsoever is contained in space, is circumscribed. Every form is circumscribed by bounds; it has limits wherefrom and whereunto it reaches. Again, what is contained in place, and has extension in a sort of bulk and space, is less in its parts than in the whole. God grant that you may understand.

4. Now from the bodies which are day by day before our eyes, which we see, which we touch, among which we live, we are able to judge how that every body has a form in space. Now everything which occupies a certain space, is less in its parts than in its whole. The arm, for instance, is a part of the human body; of course the arm is less than the whole body. And if the arm be less, it occupies a smaller space. So again the head, in that it is a part of the body, is contained in less space, and is less than the whole body of which it is the head. So all things which are in space, are less in their several parts than in the whole. Let us entertain no such idea, no such thought concerning That Word. Let us not form our conceptions of spiritual things from the suggestion of the flesh. That Word, That God, is not less in part than in the whole.

5. But you are not able to conceive of any such thing. Such ignorance is more pious than presumptuous knowledge. For we are speaking of God. It is said, And the Word was God. We are speaking of God; what marvel, if you do not comprehend? For if you comprehend, He is not God. Be there a pious confession of ignorance, rather than a rash profession of knowledge. To reach to God in any measure by the mind, is a great blessedness; but to comprehend Him, is altogether impossible. God is an object for the mind, He is to be understood; a body is for the eyes, it is to be seen. But do you think that you comprehend a body by the eye? You can not at all. For whatever you look at, you do not see the whole. If you see a man's face, you do not see his back at the time you see the face; and when you see the back, you do not at that time see the face. Thou dost not then so see, as to comprehend; but when you see another part which you had not seen before, unless memory aid you to remember that you have seen that from which you withdraw, you could never say that you had comprehended anything even on the surface. Thou handlest what you see, turnest it about on this side and that, or yourself dost go round it to see the whole. In one view then you can not see the whole. And as long as you turn it about to see it, you are but seeing the parts; and by putting together that you have seen the other parts, you fancy that you see the whole. But this must not be understood as the sight of the eyes, but the activity of the memory. What then can be said, Brethren, of that Word? Lo, of the bodies which are before our eyes we say they cannot comprehend them by a glance; what eye of the heart then comprehends God? Enough that it reach to Him if the eye be pure. But if it reach, it reaches by a sort of incorporeal and spiritual touch, yet it does not comprehend; and that, only if it be pure. And a man is made blessed by touching with the heart That which ever abides Blessed; and that is this Very Everlasting Blessedness, and that Everlasting Life, whereby man is made to live; that Perfect Wisdom, whereby man is made wise; that Everlasting Light, whereby man becomes enlightened. And see how by this touch you are made what you were not, you do not make that you touch be what it was not before. I repeat it, there grows no increase to God from them that know Him, but to them that know Him, from the knowledge of God. Let us not suppose, dearly beloved Brethren, that we confer any benefit on God, because I have said that we give Him in a manner a price. For we do not give Him anything whereby He can be increased, Who when you fall away, is Entire, and when you return, abides Entire, ready to make Himself seen that He may bless those who turn to Him, and punish those with blindness who turn away. For by this blindness, as the beginning of punishment, does He first execute vengeance on the soul that turns away from Him. For whoever turns away from the True Light, that is from God, is at once made blind. He is not yet sensible of his punishment, but he has it already.

6. Accordingly, dearly beloved brethren, let us understand that the Word of God is incorporeally, inviolably, unchangeably, without temporal nativity, yet born of God. Do we think that we can any how persuade certain unbelievers that that is not it, consistent with the truth, which is said by us according to the Catholic faith,which is contrary to the Arians, by whom the Church of God has been often tried, forasmuch as carnal men receive with greater ease what they have been accustomed to see? For some have dared to say, The Father is greater than the Son, and precedes Him in you; that is, the Father is greater than the Son, and the Son is less than the Father, and is preceded by the Father in you. And they argue thus; If He was born, of course the Father was before His Son was born to Him. Attend; may He be with me, while your prayers assist me, and with godly heed desire to receive what He may give, what He may suggest to me; may He be with me, that I may be able in some sort to explain what I have begun. Yet, brethren, I tell you before I begin, if I shall not be able to explain it, do not suppose that it is the failure of the proof, but of the man. Accordingly I exhort and entreat you to pray; that the mercy of God may be with me, and make the matter be so explained by me, as is meet for you to hear, and for me to speak. They then say thus; If He be the Son of God, He was born. This we confess. For He would not be a Son, if He were not born. It is plain, the faith admits it, the Catholic Church approves it, it is truth. They then go on; If the Son was born to the Father, the Father was before the Son was born to Him. This the faith rejects, Catholic ears reject it, it is anathematized, whoever entertains this conceit is without, he belongs not to the fellowship and society of the saints. Then says he, Give me an explanation, how the Son could be born to the Father, and yet be coeval with Him of whom He was born?

7. And what can we do, brethren, when we are conveying lessons of spiritual things to carnal men; even if so be we ourselves too are not carnal, when we intimate these spiritual truths to carnal men, to men accustomed to the idea of earthly nativities, and seeing the order of these creatures, where succession and departure separates off in age them that beget and them that are begotten? For after the father the son is born, to succeed the father, who in time of course must die. This do we find in men, this in other animals, that the parents are first, the children after them in time. Through this custom of observation they desire to transfer carnal things to spiritual, and by their intentness on carnal things are more easily led into error. For it is not the reason of the hearers which follows those who preach such things, but custom which even entangles themselves, that they do preach such things. And what shall we do? Shall we keep silence? Would that we might! For perchance by silence something might be thought of worthy of the unspeakable subject. For whatsoever cannot be spoken, is unspeakable. Now God is unspeakable. For if the Apostle Paul says, that he was caught up even unto the third heaven, and that he heard unspeakable words; how much more unspeakable is He, who showed such things, which could not be spoken by him to whom they were shown? So then, brethren, it were better if we could keep silence, and say, This the faith contains; so we believe; you are not able to receive it, you are but a babe; you must patiently endure till your wings be grown, lest when you would fly without wings, it should not be the free course of liberty, but the fall of temerity. What do they say against this? O if he had anything to say, he would say it to me. This is the mere excuse of one who is at fault. He is overcome by the truth, who does not choose to answer. He to whom this is said, if he make no answer, though he be not conquered in himself is yet conquered in the wavering brethren. For the weak brethren hear it, and they think that there is really nothing to be said; and perhaps they think right that there is nothing to be said, yet not that there is nothing to be felt. For a man can express nothing which he cannot also feel; but he may feel something which he cannot express.

8. Nevertheless, saving the unspeakableness of that Sovereign Majesty, lest when we shall have produced certain similitudes against them, any one should think that we have by them arrived at that which cannot be expressed or conceived by babes (and if it can be at all even by the more advanced, it can only be in part, only in a riddle, only through a glass; but not as yet, face to face ), let us too produce certain similitudes against them, whereby they may be refuted, not it comprehended. For when we say that it may very possibly happen, that it may be understood, that He may both be born, and yet Coeternal with Him of whom He was born, in order to refute this, and prove it as it were to be false, they bring forth similitudes against us. From whence? From the creatures, and they say to us, Every man of course was before he begot a son, he is greater in age than his son; and so a horse was before he begot his foal, and a sheep, and the other animals. Thus do they bring similitudes from the creatures.

9. What! Must we labour too, that we may find resemblances of those things which we are establishing? And what if I should not find any, might I not rightly say, The Nativity of the Creator has, it may be, no resemblance of itself among the creatures? For as far as He surpasses the things which are here, in that He is there, so far does He surpass the things which are born here, in that He was born there. All things here have their being from God; and yet what is to be compared with God? So all things which are born here, are born by His agency. And so perhaps there is no resemblance of His Nativity found, as there is none found whether of His Substance, Unchangeableness, Divinity, Majesty. For what can be found here like these? If then it chance that no resemblance of His Nativity either be found, am I therefore overwhelmed, because I have not found resemblances to the Creator of all things, when desiring to find in the creature what is like the Creator?

10. And in very truth, Brethren, I am not likely to discover any temporal resemblances which I can compare to eternity. But as to those which you have discovered, what are they? What have you discovered? That a father is greater in time than his son; and therefore you would have the Son of God to be less in time than the Eternal Father, because you have found that a son is less than a father born in time. Find me an eternal father here, and you have found a resemblance. Thou findest a son less than a father in time, a temporal son less than a temporal father. Have you found me a temporal son younger than eternal father? Seeing then that in Eternity is stability, but in time variety; in Eternity all things stand still, in time one thing comes, another succeeds; you can find a son of lesser age succeeding his father in the variety of time, for that he himself succeeded to his father also, not a son born in time to a father eternal. How then, Brethren, can we find in the creature anything coeternal, when in the creature we find nothing eternal? You find an eternal father in the creature, and I will find a coeternal son. But if you find not an eternal father, and the one surpasses the other in you; it is sufficient, that for a resemblance I find something coeval. For what is coeternal is one thing what is coeval another. Every day we call them coeval who have the same measure of times; the one is not preceded by the other in time, yet they both whom we call coeval once began to be. Now if I shall be able to discover something which is born coeval with that of which it is born; if two coeval things can be discovered, that which begets, and that which is begotten; we discover in this case things coeval, let us understand in the other things coeternal. If here I shall find that a thing begotten has begun to be ever since that which begets began to be, we may understand at least that the Son of God did not begin to be, ever since He that begot Him did not begin to be. Lo, brethren, perhaps we may discover something in the creature, which is born of something else, and which yet began to be at the same time as that of which it is born began to be. In the latter case, the one began to be when the other began to be; in the former the one did not begin to be, ever since the other began not to be. The first then is coeval, the second coeternal.

11. I suppose that your holiness has understood already what I am saying, that temporal things cannot be compared to eternal; but that by some slight and small resemblance, things coeval may be with things coeternal. Let us find accordingly two coeval things; and let us get our hints as to these resemblances from the Scriptures. We read in the Scriptures of Wisdom, For she is the Brightness of the Everlasting Light. Again we read, The unspotted Mirror of the Majesty of God. Wisdom Herself is called, The Brightness of the Everlasting Light, is called, The Image of the Father; from hence let us take a resemblance, that we may find two coeval things, from which we may understand things coeternal. O you Arian, if I shall find that something that begets does not precede in time that which it begot, that a thing begotten is not less in time than that of which it is begotten; it is but just that you concede to me, that these coeternals may be found in the Creator, when coevals can be found in the creature. I think that this indeed occurs already to some brethren. For some anticipated me as soon as I said, For She is the Brightness of the Everlasting Light. For the fire throws out light, light is thrown out from the fire. If we ask which comes from which, every day when we light a candle are we reminded of some invisible and indescribable thing, that the candle as it were of our understanding may be lighted in this night of the world. Observe him who lights a candle. While the candle is not lighted, there is as yet no fire, nor any brightness which proceeds from the fire. But I ask, saying, Does the brightness come from the fire, or the fire from the brightness? Every soul answers me (for it has pleased God to sow the beginnings of understanding and wisdom in every soul); every soul answers me, and no one doubts, that that brightness comes from the fire, not the fire from the brightness. Let us then look at the fire as the father of that brightness; for I have said before that we are looking for things coeval, not coeternal. If I desire to light a candle, there is as yet no fire there, nor yet that brightness; but immediately that I have lighted it, together with the fire comes forth the brightness also. Give me then here a fire without brightness, and I believe you that the Father ever was without the Son.

12. Attend; The matter has been explained by me as so great a matter could be, by the Lord helping the earnestness of your prayers, and the preparation of your heart, you have taken in as much as you were able to receive. Yet these things are ineffable. Do not suppose that anything worthy of the subject has been spoken, if it only be for that things carnal are compared with coeternal, things temporal with things abiding ever, things subject to extinction to things immortal. But inasmuch as the Son is said also to be the Image of the Father, let us take from this too a sort of resemblance, though in things very different, as I have said before. The image of a man looking into a glass is thrown out from the glass. But this cannot assist us for the clearing of that which we are endeavouring in some sort to explain. For it is said to me, A man who looks into a glass of course, 'was' already, and was born before that. The image came out only as soon as he looked at himself. For a man who looks in a glass, 'was' before he came to the glass. What then shall we find, from which we may be able to draw out such a resemblance, as we did from the fire and the brightness? Let us find one from a very little thing. You know without any difficulty how water often throws out the images of bodies. I mean, when any one is passing, or standing still along the water, he sees his own image there. Let us suppose then something born on the water's side, as a shrub, or an herb, is it not born together with its image? As soon as ever it begins to be, its image begins to be with it, it does not precede in its birth its own image; it cannot be showed to me that anything is born upon the water's side, and that its image has appeared afterwards, whereas it first appeared without its image; but it is born together with its image; and yet the image comes from it, not it from the image. It is born then together with its image, and the shrub and its image begin to be together. Do you not confess that the image is begotten of that shrub, not the shrub of the image? So then you confess that the image is from that shrub. Accordingly that which begets and that which is begotten began to be together. Therefore they are coeval. If the shrub had been always, the image from the shrub would have been always too. Now that which has its being from something else, is of course born of it. It is possible then that one that begets might always be, and always be together with that which was born of him. For here it was that we were in perplexity and trouble, how the Eternal Nativity might be understood. So then the Son of God is so called on this principle, that there is the Father also, that He has One from whom He derives His Being; not on this, that the Father is first in time, and the Son after. The Father always was, the Son always from the Father. And because whatever is from another thing, is born, therefore the Son was always born. The Father always was, the image from Him always was; as that image of the shrub was born of the shrub, and if the shrub had always been, the image would also have always been born from the shrub. You could not find things begotten coeternal with the eternal begetters, but you have found things born coeval with those that begot them in time. I understand the Son coeternal with the Eternal who begot Him. For what with regard to things of time is coeval, with regard to things eternal is coeternal.

13. Here there is somewhat for you to consider, Brethren, as a protection against blasphemies. For it is constantly said, See you have produced certain resemblances; but the brightness which is thrown out from the fire, shines less brilliantly than the fire itself, and the image of the shrub has less proper subsistence, than that shrub of which it is the image. These instances have a resemblance, but they have not a thorough equality: wherefore they do not seem to be of the same substance. What then shall we say, if any one say, The Father then is to the Son, such as the brightness is to the fire, and the image to the shrub? See I have understood the Father to be eternal; and the Son to be coeternal with Him; nevertheless say we that He is as the brightness which is thrown out from and is less brilliant than the fire, or as the image which is reflected from and has less real existence than the shrub? No, but there is a thorough equality. I do not believe it, he will say, because you have not discovered a resemblance. Well then, believe the Apostle, because he was able to see what I have said. For he says, He thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Equality is perfect likeness in every way. And what said he? Not robbery. Why? Because that is robbery which belongs to another.

14. Yet from these two comparisons, these two kinds, we may perhaps find in the creature a resemblance whereby we may understand how the Son is both coeternal with the Father, and in no respect less than He. But this we cannot find in one kind of resemblances singly: let us join both kinds together. How both kinds? One, of which they themselves give instances of resemblances, and the other, of which we gave. For they gave instances of resemblances from those things which are born in time, and are preceded in time by them of whom they are born, as man of man. He that is born first is greater in time; but yet man and man, that is of the same substance. For man begets a man, and a horse a horse, and a sheep a sheep. These beget after the same substance, but not after the same time. They are diverse in time, but not in nature diverse. What then do we praise here in this nativity? The equality of nature surely. But what is wanting? The equality of time. Let us retain the one thing which is praised here, that is, the equality of nature. But in the other kind of resemblances, which we gave from the brightness of the fire and the image of the shrub, you find not an equality of nature, you do find an equality of time. What do we praise here? Equality of time. What is wanting? Equality of nature. Join the things which you praise together. For in the creatures there is wanting something which you praise, in the Creator nothing can be wanting: because what you find in the creature, came forth from the Hand of the Creator. What then is there in things coeval? Must not that be given to God which you praise here in? But what is wanting must not be attributed to that Sovereign Majesty, in the which there is no defect. See I offer to you things begetting coeval with things begotten: in these you praise the equality of time, but find fault with the inequality of nature. What you find fault with, do not attribute to God; what you praise, attribute to Him; so from this kind of resemblances you attribute to Him instead of a cotemporaneousness a coeternity, that the Son may be coeternal with Him of whom He was born. But from the other kind of resemblances, which itself too is a creature of God, and ought to praise the Creator, what do you praise in them? Equality of nature. You had before assigned coeternity by reason of the first distinction; by reason of this last, assign equality; and the nativity of the same substance is complete. For what is more mad, my brethren, than that I should praise the creature in anything which does not exist in the Creator? In man I praise equality of nature, shall I not believe it in Him who made man? That which is born of man is man; shall not that which is born of God, be That which He is of whom He was born? Converse have I none with works which God has not made. Let then all the works of the Creator praise Him. I find in the one case a cotemporaneousness, I get at the knowledge of a coeternity in the other. In the first I find an equality of nature, I understand an equality of substance in the other. In this then that is wholly, which in the other case is found in the several parts, and several things. It is then wholly here altogether, and not only what is in the creature; I find it wholly here, but as being in the Creator, in so much higher a way, in that the one is visible, the Other Invisible; the one temporal, the Other Eternal; the one changeable, the Other Unchangeable; the one corruptible, the Other Incorruptible. Lastly, in the case of men themselves, what we find, man and man, are two men; here the Father and the Son are One God.

15. I render unspeakable thanks to our Lord God, that He has vouchsafed, at your prayers, to deliver my infirmity from this most perplexed and difficult place. Yet above all things remember this, that the Creator transcends indescribably whatever we could gather from the creature, whether by the bodily senses, or the thought of the mind. But would you with the mind reach Him? Purify your mind, purify your heart. Make clean the eye whereby That, whatever It be, may be reached. For blessed are the clean in heart, for they shall see God. But while the heart was not cleansed, what could be provided and granted more mercifully by Him, than that That Word of whom we have spoken so great and so many things, and yet have spoken nothing worthy of Him; that That Word, by whom all things were made, should become that which we are, that we might be able to attain to That which we are not? For we are not God; but with the mind or the interior eye of the heart we can see God. Our eyes dulled by sins, blinded, enfeebled by infirmity, desire to see; but we are in hope, not yet in possession. We are the children of God. This says John, who says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; he who lay on the Lord's Breast, who drew in these secrets from the Bosom of His Heart; he says, Dearly beloved, we are the children of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be; we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. This is promised us.

16. But in order that we may attain, if we cannot yet see God the Word, let us hear the Word made Flesh; seeing we are carnal, let us hear the Word Incarnate. For for this cause came He, for this cause took upon Him our infirmity, that you might be able to receive the strong words of a God bearing your weakness. And He is truly called milk. For He gives milk to infants, that He may give the meat of wisdom to them of riper years. Suck then now with patience, that you may be fed to your heart's most eager wish. For how is even the milk, wherewith infants are suckled, made? Was it not solid meat on the table? But the infant is not strong enough to eat the meat which is on the table; what does the mother do? She turns the meat into the substance of her flesh, and makes milk of it. Makes for us what we may be able to take. So the Word was made Flesh, that we little ones, who were indeed as infants with respect to food, might be nourished by milk. But there is this difference; that when the mother makes the food turned into flesh milk, the food is turned into milk; whereas the Word abiding Itself unchangeably assumed Flesh, that there might be, as it were, a tissue of the two. What He is, He did not corrupt or change, that in your fashion, He might speak to you, not transformed and turned into man. For abiding unalterable, unchangeable, and altogether inviolable, He became what you are in respect of you, what He is in Himself in respect of the Father.

17. For what does He say Himself to the infirm, to the end that recovering that sight, they may be able in some measure to reach the Word by whom all things were made? Come unto Me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, that I am meek and lowly in heart. What does the Master, the Son of God, the Wisdom of God, by whom all things were made, proclaim? He calls the human race, and says, Come unto Me, all you that labour, and learn of Me. You were thinking haply that the Wisdom of God would say, Learn how I have made the heavens and the stars; how all things also were numbered in Me before they were made, how by virtue of unchangeable principles your very hairs were numbered. Did you think that Wisdom would say these things, and such as these? No. But first that. That I am meek and lowly in heart. Lo, see here what ye can comprehend, brethren; it is surely a little thing. We are making our way to great things, let us receive the little things, and we shall be great. Would you comprehend the height of God? First comprehend the lowliness of God. Condescend to be humble for your own sake, seeing that God condescended to be humble for your sake too; for it was not for His own. Comprehend then the lowliness of Christ, learn to be humble, be loth to be proud. Confess your infirmity, lie patiently before the Physician; when you shall have comprehended His lowliness, you rise with Him; not as though He should rise Himself in that He is the Word; but you rather, that He may be more and more comprehended by you. At first you understood falteringly and hesitatingly; afterwards you will understand more surely and more clearly. He does not increase, but you make progress, and He seems as it were to rise with you. So it is, brethren. Believe the commandments of God, and do them, and He will give you the strength of understanding. Do not put the last first, and, as it were, prefer knowledge to the commandments of God; lest ye be only the lower, and none the more firmly rooted. Consider a tree; first it strikes downwards, that it may grow up on high; fixes its root low in the ground, that it may extend its top to heaven. Does it make an effort to grow except from humiliation? And would you without charity comprehend these transcendent matters, shoot toward the heaven without a root? This were a ruin, not a growing. With Christ then dwelling in your hearts by faith, be ye rooted and grounded in charity, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Sermon 68 on the New Testament

[CXVIII. Ben.]

On the same words of the Gospel, John 1 , In the beginning was the word, etc.

1. All you who are looking for a man's many words, understand the One Word of God, In the beginning was the Word. Now, In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. But, The Word was, since we have heard, In the beginning God made. Acknowledge we in Him the Creator; for Creator is He who made; and the creature what He made. For no creature which was made was, as God the Word was, by whom it was made, always. Now when we heard The Word was, with whom was It? We understand the Father who did not make nor create the Same Word, but begot Him. For, In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. Whereby made He them? The Word was, and the Word was with God; but what kind of Word? Did it sound and so pass away? Was it a mere thought, and motion of the mind? No. Was it suggested by memory, and uttered? No. What kind of Word then? Why do you look for many words from me? The Word was God. When we hear, The Word was God, we do not make a second God; but we understand the Son. For the Word is the Son of God. Lo, the Son, and What but God? For The Word was God. What the Father? God of course. If the Father is God and the Son God, do we make two Gods? God forbid. The Father is God, the Son God; but the Father and the Son One God. For the Only Son of God was not made, but born. In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth; but the Word was of the Father. Was the Word therefore made by the Father? No. All things were made by Him. If by Him all things were made, was He too made by Himself? Do not imagine that He by whom you hear all things were made was Himself made among all things. For if He were made Himself, all things were not made by Him, but Himself was made among the rest. You say, He was made; what, by Himself? Who can make himself? If then He was made, how by Him were all things made? See, Himself too was made, as you say, not I, for that He was begotten, I do not deny. If then you say that He was made, I ask by what, by whom? By Himself? Then He was, before He was made, that He might make Himself. But if all things were made by Him, understand that He was not Himself made. If you are not able to understand, believe, that you may understand. Faith goes before; understanding follows after; since the Prophet says, Unless ye believe, you shall not understand. The Word was. Look not for time in Him, by whom times were made. The Word was. But you say, There was a time that the Word was not. You say falsely; nowhere do you read this. But I do read for you, In the beginning was the Word. What look you for before the beginning? But if you should be able to find anything before the beginning, this will be the beginning. He is mad who looks for anything before the beginning. What then does he say was before the beginning? In the beginning was the Word.

2. But you will say, The Father both 'was,' and was before the Word. What are you looking for? In the beginning was the Word. What you find, understand; seek not for what you are not able to find. Nothing is before the beginning. In the beginning was the Word. The Son is the Brightness of the Father. Of the Wisdom of the Father, which is the Son, it is said, For He is the brightness of the Everlasting Light. Are you seeking for a Son without a Father? Give me a light without brightness. If there was a time when the Son was not, the Father was a light obscure. For how was He not an obscure Light, if It had no brightness? So then the Father always, the Son always. If the Father always, the Son always. Do you ask of me, whether the Son were born? I answer, born. For He would not be a Son if not born. So when I say, the Son always was, I say in fact was always born. And who understands, Was always born? Give me an eternal fire, and I will give you an eternal brightness. We bless God who has given to us the holy Scriptures. Be not blind in the brightness of the light. Brightness is engendered of the Light, and yet the Brightness is Coeternal with the Light that engenders It. The Light always, its Brightness always. It begot Its Own Brightness; but was it ever without Its Brightness? Let God be allowed to beget an eternal Son. I pray you hear of whom we are speaking; hear, mark, believe, understand. Of God are we speaking. We confess and believe the Son coeternal with the Father. But you will say, When a man begets a Son, he that begets is the elder, and he that is begotten the younger. It is true; in the case of men, he that begets is the elder, and he that is begotten, the younger, and he arrives in time to his father's strength. But why, save that while the one grows, the other grows old? Let the father stand still a while, and in his growing the son will follow on him, and you will see him equal. But see, I give you whereby to understand this. Fire engenders a coeval brightness. Among men you only find sons younger, fathers older; you do not find them coeval: but as I have said, I show you brightness coeval with its parent fire. For fire begets brightness, yet is it never without brightness. Since then you see that the brightness is coeval with its fire, suffer God to beget a Coeternal Son. Whoever understands, let him rejoice: but whoever understands not, let him believe. For the word of the Prophet cannot be disannulled; Unless ye believe, you shall not understand.

Sermon 69 on the New Testament

[CXIX. Ben.]

On the same words, John 1 . In the beginning was the word, etc.

1. That our Lord Jesus Christ in seeking lost man was made Man, our preaching has never withholden, and your faith has ever retained; and moreover, that this our Lord, who for our sakes was made Man, was always God with the Father, and always will be, yea rather always Is; for where there is no succession of time, there is no has been and will be. For that of which it is said, it has been, is now no more; that of which it is said, it will be, is not yet; but He always is, because He truly is, that is, is unchangeable. For the Gospel lesson has just now taught us a high and divine mystery. For this beginning of the Gospel St. John poured forth for that he drank it in from the Lord's Breast. For you remember, that it has been very lately read to you, how that this St. John the Evangelist lay in the Lord's bosom. And wishing to explain this clearly, he says, On the Lord's breast; that we might understand what he meant, by in the Lord's bosom. For what, think we, did he drink in who was lying on the Lord's breast? Nay, let us not think, but drink; for we too have just now heard what we may drink in.

2. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. O glorious preaching! O the result of the full feast of the Lord's Breast! In the beginning was the Word. Why do you seek for what was before It? In the beginning was the Word. If the Word had been made (for made indeed that was not by which all things were made); if the Word had been made, the Scripture would have said, In the beginning God made the Word; as it is said in Genesis, In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. God then did not in the beginning make the Word; because, In the beginning was the Word. This Word which was in the beginning, where was It? Follow on, And the Word was with God. But from our daily hearing the words of men we are wont to think lightly of this name of Word. In this case do not think lightly of the Name of Word; The Word was God. The same, that is the Word, was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made.

3. Extend your hearts, help the poverty of my words. What I shall be able to express, give ear to; on what I shall not be able to express, meditate. Who can comprehend the abiding Word? All our words sound, and pass away. Who can comprehend the abiding Word, save He who abides in Him? Would you comprehend the abiding Word? Do not follow the current of the flesh. For this flesh is indeed a current; for it has none abiding. As it were from a kind of secret fount of nature men are born, they live, they die; or whence they come, or whither they go, we know not. It is a hidden water, till it issue from its source; it flows on, and is seen in its course; and again it is hidden in the sea. Let us despise this stream— flowing on, running, disappearing— let us despise it. All flesh is grass, and all the glory of flesh is as the flower of grass. The grass withers, the flower falls away. Would you endure? But the word of the Lord endures forever.

4. But in order to succour us, The Word was made Flesh, and dwelt among us. What is, The Word was made Flesh? The gold became grass. It became grass for to be burned; the grass was burned, but the gold remained; in the grass It perishes not, yea, It changed the grass. How did It change it? It raised it up, quickened it, lifted it up to heaven, and placed it at the right Hand of the Father. But that it might be said, And the Word was made Flesh, and dwelt among us, let us recollect awhile what went before. He came unto His Own, and His Own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God. To become, for they were not; but He was Himself in the beginning. He gave them then power to become the sons of God, to them that believe in His Name; who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Lo, born they are, in whatever age of the flesh they may be; ye see infants; see and rejoice. Lo, they are born; but they are born of God. Their mother's womb is the water of baptism.

5. Let no man in poorness of soul entertain this conceit, and turn over such most beggarly thoughts in his mind, and say to himself, How 'in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God: all things were made by Him;' and lo, 'the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us?' Hear why it was done. To those we know who believed on Him He has given power to become the sons of God. Let not those then to whom He has given power to become the sons of God, think it impossible to become the sons of God. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. Do not imagine that it is too great a thing for you to become the sons of God; for your sakes He became the Son of man, who was the Son of God. If He was made, that He might be less, who was more; can He not bring it to pass, that of that less which we were, we may be something more? He descended to us, and shall not we ascend to Him? For us He accepted our death, and shall He not give us His Life? For you He suffered your evil things, and shall He not give you His good things?

6. But how, one will say, can it be, that the Word of God, by whom the world is governed, by whom all things both were, and are created, should contract Himself into the womb of a Virgin; should abandon the world, and leave the Angels, and be shut up in one woman's womb? Thou skillest not to conceive of things divine. The Word of God (I am speaking to you, O man, I am speaking to you of the omnipotence of the Word of God) could surely do all, seeing that the Word of God is omnipotent, at once remain with the Father, and come to us; at once in the flesh come forth to us, and lay concealed in Him. For He would not the less have been, if He had not been born of flesh. He was before His own flesh; He created His own mother. He chose her in whom He should be conceived, He created her of whom He should be created. Why do you marvel? It is God of whom I am speaking to you: The Word was God.

7. I am treating of the Word, and perchance the word of men may furnish somewhat like; though very unequal, far distant, in no way comparable, yet something which may convey a hint to you by way of resemblance. Lo, the word which I am speaking to you, I have had previously in my heart: it came forth to you, yet it has not departed from me; that began to be in you, which was not in you; it continued with me when it went forth to you. As then my word was brought forth to your sense, yet did not depart from my heart; so That Word came forth to our senses, yet departed not from His Father. My word was with me, and it came forth into a voice: the Word of God was with the Father, and came forth into Flesh. But can I do with my voice that which He could do with His Flesh? For I am not master of my voice as it flies; He is not only master of His Flesh, that It should be born, live, act; but even when dead He raised It up, and exalted unto the Father the Vehicle as it were in which He came forth to us. You may call the Flesh of Christ a Garment, you may call It a Vehicle, and as perchance Himself vouchsafed to teach us, you may call It His Beast; for on this beast He raised him who had been wounded by robbers; lastly, as He said Himself more expressly, you may call It a Temple; This Temple knows death no more, Its seat is at the right Hand of the Father: in This Temple shall He come to judge the quick and dead. What He has by precept taught, He has by example manifested. What He has in His own Flesh shown, that ought you to hope for in your flesh. This is faith; hold fast what as yet you see not. Need there is, that by believing you abide firm in that you see not; lest when you shall see, you be put to shame.

Sermon 70 on the New Testament

[CXX. Ben.]

On the same words of John 1 ., In the beginning was the word, etc.

1. The beginning of John's Gospel, In the beginning was the Word. Thus he begins, this he saw, and transcending the whole creation, mountains, air, the heavens, the stars, Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Powers, all Angels, and Archangels, transcending all; he saw the Word in the beginning, and drank It in. He saw above every creature, he drank in from the Lord's breast. For this same St. John the Evangelist is he whom Jesus specially loved; insomuch that he lay on His Breast at supper. There was this secret, that therefrom might be drunk in, what in the Gospel was to be poured forth. Happy they who hear and understand. Of the next degree of blessedness are they who though they understand not, believe. For how great a thing it is to see This Word of God, who can explain in human words?

2. Lift up your hearts, my Brethren, lift them up as best ye can; whatsoever occurs to you from the idea of any body whatsoever, reject. If the Word of God occurs to you under the idea of the light of this sun, expand, extend how you will, set no bounds in your thought to that light; it is nothing to the Word of God. Whatsoever of this sort the mind conceives, is less in one part than in the whole. Of theWord conceive as Whole everywhere. Understand ye what I say; because of my stress of time I am limiting myself as much as I can for your sakes. Understand ye what I say. Lo, this light from heaven, which is called by the name of the sun, when it comes forth, it enlightens the earth, unfolds the day, develops forms, distinguishes colors. Great blessing it is, great gift of God to all mortal men; let His works magnify Him. If the sun is so beauteous, what more beauteous than the sun's Maker? And yet look, Brethren; lo, he pours his rays through the whole earth; penetrates open places, the closed resist him; he sends his light through windows; can he also through a wall? To the Word of God all is open, from the Word of God nothing is hid. Observe another difference, how far from the Creator is the creature, especially the bodily creature. When the sun is in the East, it is not in the West. Its light indeed shed from that vast body reaches even to the West; but itself is not there. When it begins to set, then it will be there. When it rises, it is in the East; when it sets it is in the West. By these operations of his, it has given name to those quarters. Because it is in the East when it rises at the East, it has made it be called the Rising Sun; because it is at the West when it sets at the West, it has made it be called the Setting Sun. At night it is nowhere seen. Is the Word of God so? When It is in the East, is It not in the West; or when It is in the West, is It not in the East? Or does It ever leave the earth, and go under or behind the earth? It is Whole everywhere. Who can in words explain this? Who see it? By what means of proof shall I establish to you what I say? I am speaking as a man, it is to men I speak; I am speaking as one weak, to men weaker am I speaking. And yet, my brethren, I am bold to say that I do in some sort see what I am saying to you, though through a glass, or darkly, I do in some sort understand even within my heart a word touching this thing. But it seeks to go forth to you, and finds no meet vehicle. The vehicle of the word is the sound of the voice. What I am saying within my own self I seek to say to you, and words fail. For I wish to speak of the Word of God. How great a Word, what kind of Word? All things were made by Him. See the works, and stand in awe of the Worker. All things were made by Him.

3. Return with me, O human infirmity, return, I say. Let us comprehend these human things if we can. We are men, I who speak, I am a man, and to men I speak, and utter the sound of my voice. I convey the sound of my voice to men's ears, and by the sound of my voice I somehow through the ear lay up understanding also in the heart. Let us then speak on this point what and how we can, let us comprehend it. But if we have not ability to comprehend even this, in respect of the Other what are we? Lo, you are listening to me; I am speaking a word. If any one goes out from us, and is asked outside what is being done here, he answers, The Bishop is speaking a word. I am speaking a word of the Word. But what a word, of what a Word? A mortal word, of the Word Immortal; a changeable word, of the Word Unchangeable; a passing word of the Word Eternal. Nevertheless, consider my word. For I have told you already, the Word of God is Whole everywhere. See, I am speaking a word to you; what I say reaches to all. Now that what I am saying might come to you all, did ye divide what I say? If I, were to feed you, to wish to fill not your minds, but your bodies, and to set loaves before you to be satisfied therewith; would ye not divide my loaves among you? Could my loaves come to every one of you? If they came to one only, the rest would have none. But now see, I am speaking, and you all receive. Nay, not only all receive, but all receive it whole. It comes whole to all, to each whole. O the marvels of my word! What then is the Word of God? Hear again. I have spoken; what I have spoken, has gone forth to you, and has not gone away from me. It has reached to you, and has not been separated from me. Before I spoke, I had it, and you had not; I spoke, and you began to have, and I lost nothing. O the marvel of my word! What then is the Word of God? From little things form conjectures of things great. Consider earthly things, laud the heavenly. I am a creature, you are creatures; and such great miracles are done with my word in my heart, in my mouth, in my voice, in your ears, in your hearts. What then is the Creator? O Lord, hear us. Make us, for that You have made us. Make us good, for that You have made us enlightened men. These white-robed, enlightened ones hear Your word by me. For enlightened by Your grace they stand before You. This is the day which the Lord has made. Only let them labour, let them pray for this, that when these days shall have gone by, they may not become darkness, who have been made the light of the wonders and the blessings of God.

Sermon 71 on the New Testament

[CXXI. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, John 1:10 , The world was made through him, etc.

1. By the Lord was the world made, and the world knew Him not. What world was made by Him, what world knew Him not? For it is not the same world that was made by Him, which knew Him not. What is the world that was made by Him? The heaven and earth. How did not the heaven know Him, when at His Passion the sun was darkened? How did not the earth know Him, when as He hung upon the Cross, it quaked? But the world knew Him not, whose Prince he is, of whom it is said, Behold, the prince of this world comes, and finds nothing in me. Wicked men are called the world; unbelieving men are called the world. They have gotten their name from that they love. By the love of God we are made gods; so by the love of the world, we are called the world. But God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. The world then knew Him not. What? all men?

2. He came unto His Own, and His Own received Him not. All things are His, but they are called His Own, from among whom His mother was, among whom He had taken Flesh, to whom He had sent before the heralds of His advent, to whom He had given the law, whom He had delivered from the Egyptian bondage, whose father Abraham according to the flesh He elected. For He said truth, Before Abraham was, I am. He did not say, Before Abraham was, or before Abraham was made, I was made. For in the beginning the Word was, not, was made. So then He came unto His Own, He came to the Jews. And His Own received Him not.

3. But as many as received Him. For of course the Apostles were there, who received Him. There were they who carried branches before His beast. They went before and followed after, and spread their garments, and cried with a loud voice, Hosanna to the Son of David, Blessed is He That comes in the Name of the Lord. Then said the Pharisees unto Him, Restrain the children, that they cry not out so unto You. And He said, If these shall hold their peace, the stones will cry out. Us He saw when He spoke these words; If these shall hold their peace, the stones will cry out. Who are stones, but they who worship stones? If the Jewish children shall hold their peace, the elder and the younger Gentiles shall cry out. Who are the stones, but they of whom speaks that very John, who came to bear witness of the Light? For when he saw these self-same Jews priding themselves on their birth from Abraham, he said to them, O generation of vipers. They called themselves the children of Abraham; and he addressed them, O generation of vipers. Did he do Abraham wrong? God forbid! He gave them a name from their character. For that if they were the children of Abraham, they would imitate Abraham; as He too tells them who say to Him, We be free, and were never in bondage to any man; we have Abraham for our father. And He said, If you were Abraham's children, you would do the deeds of Abraham. You wish to kill Me, because I tell you the truth. This did not Abraham. You were of his stock, but you are a degenerate stock. So then what said John? O generation of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Because they came to be baptized with the baptism of John unto repentance. Who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance. And say not in your hearts, We have Abraham to our father. For God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. For God is able of these stones which he saw in the Spirit; to them he spoke; he foresaw us; For God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. Of what stones? If these shall hold their peace, the stones will cry out. You have just now heard, and cried out. It is fulfilled, The stones shall cry out. For from among the Gentiles we came, in our forefathers we worshipped stones. Therefore are we called dogs too. Call to mind what that woman heard who cried out after the Lord, for she was a Canaanitish woman, a worshipper of idols, the handmaid of devils. What said Jesus to her? It is not good to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs. Have ye never noticed, how dogs will lick the greasy stones? So are all the worshippers of images. But grace has come to you. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God. See you have here some just now born: to them has He given power to become the sons of God. To whom has He given it? To them that believe in His Name.

4. And how do they become the sons of God? Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God. Having received power to become the sons of God, they are born of God. Mark then: They are born of God, not of blood, like their first birth, like that wretched birth, issuing out of wretchedness. But they who are born of God, what were they? Whereby were they first born? Of blood; of the joint blood of the male and female, of the carnal union of male and female, from this were they born. From whence now? They are born of God. The first birth of the male and female; the second birth of God and the Church.

5. Lo, they are born of God; whereby is it brought to pass that they should be born of God, who were first born of men? Whereby is it brought to pass, whereby? And the Word was made Flesh, that It might dwell among us. Wondrous exchange; He made Flesh, they spirit. What is this? What condescension is here, my brethren! Lift up your minds to the hope and comprehension of better things. Give not yourselves up to worldly desires. You have been bought with a Price; for your sakes the Word was made Flesh; for your sakes He who was the Son of God, was made the Son of man: that you who were the sons of men, might be made sons of God. What was He, what was He made? What were ye, what were ye made? He was the Son of God. What was He made? The Son of man. You were the sons of men. What were ye made? The sons of God. He shared with us our evil things, to give us His good things. But even in that He was made the Son of man, He is different much from us. We are the sons of men by the lust of the flesh; He the Son of man by the faith of a virgin. The mother of any other man whatever conceives by a carnal union; and every one is born of human parents, his father and his mother. But Christ was born of the Holy Ghost, and the Virgin Mary. He came to us, but from Himself departed not far; yea from Himself as God He departed never; but added what He was to our nature. For He came to that which He was not, He did not lose what He was. He was made the Son of man; but did not cease to be the Son of God. Hereby the Mediator, in the middle. What is, in the middle? Neither up above, nor down below. How neither up above, nor down below? Not above, since He is Flesh; not below, since He is not a sinner. But yet in so far as He is God, above always. For He did not so come to us, as to leave the Father. From us He went, and did not leave us; to us will He come again, and will not leave Him.

Sermon 72 on the New Testament

[CXXII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, John 1:48 ,When you were under the fig tree, I saw you, etc.

1. What we have heard said by the Lord Jesus Christ to Nathanael, if we understand it aright, does not concern him only. For our Lord Jesus saw the whole human race under the fig-tree. For in this place it is understood that by the fig-tree He signified sin. Not that it always signifies this, but as I have said in this place, in that fitness of significancy, in which you know that the first man, when he sinned, covered himself with fig leaves. For with these leaves they covered their nakedness when they blushed for their sin; and what God had made them for members, they made for themselves occasions of shame. For they had no need to blush for the work of God; but the cause of sin preceded shame. If iniquity had not gone before, nakedness would never have been put to the blush. For they were naked, and were not ashamed. For they had committed nothing to be ashamed for. But why have I said all this? That we may understand that by the fig-tree sin is signified. What then is, when you were under the fig-tree, I saw you? When you were under sin, I saw you. And Nathanael looking back upon what had occurred, remembered that he had been under a fig-tree, where Christ was not. He was not there, that is, by His Bodily Presence; but by His knowledge in the Spirit where is He not? And because he knew that he was under the fig-tree alone, where the Lord Christ was not; when He said to him, When you were under the fig-tree, I saw you; he both acknowledged the Divinity in Him, and cried out, You are the King of Israel.

2. The Lord said, Because I said to you, I saw you when you were under the fig-tree, do you marvel? You shall see greater things than these. What are these greater things? And He said, You shall see heaven open, and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Let us call to mind the old story written in the sacred Book. I mean in Genesis. When Jacob slept at a certain place, he put a stone at his head; and in his sleep he saw a ladder reaching from earth even unto heaven; and the Lord was resting upon it; and Angels were ascending and descending by it. This did Jacob see. A man's dream would not have been recorded, had not some great mystery been figured in it, had not some great prophecy been to be understood in that vision. Accordingly, Jacob himself, because he understood what he had seen, placed a stone there, and anointed it with oil. Now ye recognise the anointing; recognise The Anointed also. For He is the Stone which the builders rejected; He was made the Head of the corner. He is the Stone of which Himself said, Whosoever shall stumble against This Stone shall be shaken; but on whomsoever That Stone shall fall, It will crush him. It is stumbled against as It lies on the earth; but It will fall on him, when He shall come from on high to judge the quick and dead. Woe to the Jews, for that when Christ lay low in His humility, they stumbled against Him. This Man, say they, is not of God, because He breaks the sabbath day. If He be the Son of God, let Him come down from the cross. Madman, the Stone lies on the ground, and so you deride It. But since you deride It, you are blind; since you are blind, you stumble, since you stumble, you are shaken; since you have been shaken by It as It now lies on the ground, hereafter shall you be crushed by It as It fails from above. Therefore Jacob anointed the stone. Did he make an idol of it? He showed a meaning in it, but did not adore it. Now then give ear, attend to this Nathanael, by the occasion of whom the Lord Jesus has been pleased to explain to us Jacob's vision.

3. You that are well instructed in the school of Christ, know that this Jacob is Israel too. They are two names; for they are one man. His first name Jacob, which is by interpretation supplanter, he received when he was born. For when those twins were born, his brother Esau was born first; and the hand of the younger was found on the elder's foot. He held his brother's foot who preceded him in his birth, and himself came after. And because of this occurrence, because he held his brother's heel, he was called Jacob, that is, Supplanter. And afterwards, when he was returning from Mesopotamia, the Angel wrestled with him in the way. What comparison can there be between an Angel's and a man's strength? Therefore it is a mystery, a sacrament, a prophecy, a figure; let us therefore understand it. For consider the manner of the struggle too. While he wrestles, Jacob prevailed against the Angel. Some high meaning is here. And when the man had prevailed against the Angel, he kept hold of Him; yes, the man kept hold of Him whom he had conquered. And said to Him, I will not let You go, except Thou bless me. When the conqueror was blessed by the Conquered, Christ was figured. So then that Angel, who is understood to be the Lord Jesus, says to Jacob, You shall not be any more called Jacob, but Israel shall your name be, which is by interpretation, Seeing God. After this He touched the sinew of his thigh, the broad part, that is, of the thigh, and it dried up; and Jacob became lame. Such was He who was conquered. So great power had this Conquered One, as to touch the thigh, and make lame. It was then with His Own will that He was conquered. For He had power to lay down His strength, and He had power to take It up. He is not angry at being conquered, for He is not angry at being crucified. For He even blessed him, saying, You shall not be called Jacob, but Israel. Then the supplanter was made the seer of God. And He touched, as I have said, his thigh, and made him lame. Observe in Jacob the people of the Jews, those thousands who followed and went before the Lord's beast, who in concert with the Apostles worshipped the Lord, and cried out, Hosanna to the Son of David, Blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord. Behold Jacob blessed. He has continued lame until now in them who are at this day Jews. For the broad part of the thigh signifies the multitude of increase. Of whom the Psalm, when it prophesied that the Nations should believe, speaks, saying, A people whom I have not known, has served Me; by the hearing of the ear it has obeyed Me. I was not there, and I was heard; here I was, and I was killed. A people whom I have not known, has served Me; by the hearing of the ear it has obeyed Me. Therefore, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. And it goes on, The strange children have lied unto Me; concerning the Jews. The strange children have lied unto Me, the strange children have faded away and have halted from their paths. I have pointed out Jacob to you, Jacob blessed and Jacob lame.

4. But as arising out of this occasion, this must not be passed over, which may haply of itself perplex some of you; with what design is it, that when this Jacob's grandfather Abraham's name was changed (for he too was first called Abram, and God changed his name, and said, You shall not be called Abram, but Abraham ); from that time he was not called Abram. Search in the Scriptures, and you will see that before he received another name, he was called only Abram; after he received it, he was called only Abraham. But this Jacob, when he received another name, heard the same words, You shall not be called Jacob, but Israel shall you be called. Search the Scriptures, and see how that he was always called both, both Jacob and Israel. Abram after he had received another name, was called only Abraham. Jacob after he had received another name, was called both Jacob and Israel. The name of Abraham was to be developed in this world; for here he was made the father of many nations, whence he received his name. But the name of Israel relates to another world, where we shall see God. Therefore the people of God, the Christian people in this present time, is both Jacob and Israel, Jacob in fact, Israel in hope. For the younger people is called the Supplanter of its brother the elder people. What! Have we supplanted the Jews? No, but we are said to be their supplanters, for that for our sakes they were supplanted. If they had not been blinded, Christ would not have been crucified; His precious Blood would not have been shed; if that Blood had not been shed, the world would not have been redeemed. Because then their blindness has profited us, therefore has the elder brother been supplanted by the younger, and the younger is called the Supplanter. But how long shall this be?

5. The time will come, the end of the world will come, and all Israel shall believe; not they who now are, but their children who shall then be. For these present walking in their own ways, will go to their own place, will pass on to everlasting damnation. But when they shall have been made all one people, that shall come to pass which we sing, I shall be satisfied when Your glory shall be manifested. When the promise which is made to us, that we see face to face, shall come. Now we see through a glass darkly, and in part; but when both people, now purified, now raised again, now crowned, now changed into an immortal form, and into everlasting incorruption, shall see God face to face, and Jacob shall be no more, but there shall be Israel only; then shall the Lord see him in the person of this holy Nathanael, and shall say, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. When you hear, Behold an Israelite indeed; let Israel come into your mind; when Israel shall come into your mind, let his dream come into your mind, in which he saw a ladder from earth even to heaven, the Lord standing upon it, the Angels of God ascending and descending. This dream did Jacob see. But after this he was called Israel; that is, some little time after as he came from Mesopotamia, and on his journey. If then Jacob saw the ladder, and he is also called Israel; and this Nathanael is an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile; therefore when he wondered because the Lord. said to him, I saw you under the fig-tree; did He say to him, You shall see greater things than these. And so He announced to him Jacob's dream. To whom did He announce it? To him whom He called an Israelite, in whom was no guile. As if He had said, His dream, by whose name I have called you, shall be manifested in you; make no haste to wonder, you shall see greater things than these. You shall see heaven open, and the Angels of God ascending and descending unto the Son of Man. See what Jacob saw; see why Jacob anointed the stone with oil; see why Jacob prophetically signified and prefigured the Anointed One. For that action was a prophecy.

6. Now I know what you are waiting for; I understand what you would hear from me. This too will I briefly declare, as the Lord enables me; ascending and descending unto the Son of Man. How — if they descend to Him, He is here; if they ascend to Him, He is above. But if they ascend to Him, and descend to Him, He is at once above and here. It cannot any way possibly be, that they should ascend to Him, and descend to Him, unless He be both there whither they ascend, and here whither they descend — How do we prove that He is both there, and that He is here? Let Paul, who was first Saul, answer us. He found it by experience, when he was first a persecutor, and afterwards became a preacher; first Jacob, afterwards Israel; who was himself too of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin. In him let us see Christ above, Christ below. First, the very Voice of the Lord from heaven shows this; Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? What! Had Paul ascended into heaven? Had Paul so much as cast a stone into heaven? He was persecuting the Christians, binding them, haling them to be put to death, searching them out in every place where they lay hid, when they were found on no consideration sparing them. To whom the Lord Christ says, Saul, Saul. Whence cries He? From heaven. Therefore He is above. Why do you persecute Me? Therefore He is below. Thus have I explained all, though briefly, yet as well as I could to you, Beloved. I have ministered to you according to my duty, and now for your duty, do ye think upon the poor. Let us turn to the Lord, etc.

Sermon 73 on the New Testament

[CXXIII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, John 2:2 , and Jesus also was bidden, and his disciples, to the marriage.

1. You know, Brethren, for you have learned it as believing in Christ, and continually too do we by our ministry impress it upon you, that the humility of Christ is the medicine of man's swollen pride. For man would not have perished, had he not been swollen up through pride. For pride, as says the Scripture, is the beginning of all sin. Against the beginning of sin, the beginning of righteousness was necessary. If then pride be the beginning of all sin, whereby should the swelling of pride be cured, had not God vouchsafed to humble Himself? Let man blush to be proud, seeing that God has humbled Himself. For when man is told to humble himself, he disdains it; and when men are injured, it is pride that makes them wish to be avenged. Forasmuch as they disdain to humble themselves, they wish to be avenged; as if another's punishment could be any profit to any man. One who has been hurt and suffered wrong wishes to be avenged; he seeks his own remedy from another's punishment, and gains a great torment. The Lord Christ therefore vouchsafed to humble Himself in all things, showing us the way; if we but think meet to walk thereby.

2. Among His other acts, lo, the Virgin's Son comes to the marriage; who being with the Father instituted marriage. As the first woman, by whom came sin, was made of a man without a woman; so the Man by whom sin was done away, was made of a woman without a man. By the first we fell, by the other we rise. And what did He at this marriage? Of water He made wine. What greater sign of power? He who had power to do such things, vouchsafed to be in need. He who made of water wine could also have of stones made bread. The power was the same; but then the devil tempted Him, therefore Christ did it not. For you know that when the Lord Christ was tempted, the devil suggested this to Him. For He was an hungred, since this too He vouchsafed to be, since this too made part of His Humiliation. The Bread was hungry, as the Way fainted, as saving Health was wounded, as the Life died. When then He was an hungred as you know, the tempter said to Him, If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. And He made answer to the tempter, teaching you to answer the tempter. For to this end does the general fight, that the soldiers may learn. What answer did He make? Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. And He did not make bread of the stones, who of course could as easily have done it, as He made of water wine. For it is an exercise of the same power to make bread of stone; but He did it not, that He might despise the tempter's will. For no otherwise is the tempter overcome, but by being despised. And when He had overcome the devil's temptation, Angels came and ministered to Him. He then who had so great power, why did He not do the one, and do the other? Read, yea, recollect what you have just heard, when He did this, when, that is, He made of the water wine; what did the Evangelist add? And His disciples believed on Him. Would the devil on the other occasion have believed on Him?

3. He then who could do so great things, was hungry, and thirsty, was wearied, slept, was apprehended, beaten, crucified, slain. This is the way; walk by humility, that you may come to eternity. Christ-God is the Country whither we go; Christ-Man is the Way whereby we go. To Him we go, by Him we go; why fear we lest we go astray? He departed not from the Father; and came to us. He sucked the breasts, and He contained the world. He lay in the manger, and He fed the Angels. God and Man, the same God who is Man, the same Man who is God. But not God in that wherein He is Man, God, in that He is the Word; Man, in that the Word was made Flesh; by at once continuing to be God, and by assuming man's Flesh; by adding what He was not, not losing what He was. Therefore henceforward, having now suffered in this His humiliation, dead, and buried, He has now risen again, and ascended into heaven, there He is, and sits at the right Hand of the Father: and here He is needy in His poor. Yesterday too I set this forth to your Affection by occasion of what He said to Nathanael, You shall see a greater thing than this. For I say unto you, You shall see Heaven open, and the Angels of God ascending and descending unto the Son of Man. We searched out what this meant, and spoke at some length; must we recapitulate the same today? Let those who were present remember; yet I will briefly run over it.

4. He would not say, ascending unto the Son of Man, unless He were above; He would not say, descending unto the Son of Man, unless He were also below. He is at once above, and below; above in Himself, below in His; above with the Father, below in us. Whence also was that Voice to Saul, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? He would not say, Saul, Saul, unless that He was above. But Saul was not persecuting Him above. He then who was above would not have said, Why do you persecute me? unless He were below also. Fear Christ above; recognise Him below. Have Christ above bestowing His bounty, recognise Him here in need. Here He is poor, there He is rich. That Christ is poor here, He tells us Himself for me, I was an hungred, I was thirsty, I was naked, I was a stranger, I was in prison. And to some He said, You have ministered unto Me, and to some He said, You have not ministered unto Me. Lo, we have proved Christ poor; that Christ is Rich, who knows not? And even here it was a property of these riches to turn the water into wine. If he who has wine is rich, how rich is He who makes wine? So then Christ is rich and poor; as God, rich; as Man, poor. Yea rich too now as Very Man He has ascended into heaven, sits at the right Hand of the Father; yet still He is poor and hungry here, thirsty, and naked.

5. What are you? Rich, or poor? Many tell me, I am poor; and they tell the truth. I recognise some poor having something, and some having want. But some have much gold and silver. O that they would acknowledge themselves poor! Poor they will acknowledge themselves, if they acknowledge the poor about them. For how is it? How much soever you have, you rich man whosoever you are, you are God's beggar. The hour of prayer comes, and there I prove you. You make your petition. How are you not poor, who makest your petition? I say more, You make petition for bread. Will you not have to say, Give us our daily bread? Thou, who ask for daily bread, are you poor, or rich? And yet Christ says to you, Give Me of that which I have given you. For what did you bring here, when you came hither? All things that I created, yourself created hast found here; nothing did you bring, nothing shall you take away. Why will you not give Me of Mine Own? For you are full, and the poor man is empty. Look at your first origin; naked were ye both born. Thou too then wast born naked. Great store have you found here; did you bring ought with you? I ask for Mine Own; give, and I will repay. You have found Me a bountiful giver, make Me at once your debtor. It is not enough to say, 'You have found Me a bountiful giver, make Me at once your debtor;' let Me regard you as lending upon interest. You give me but little, I will repay more. You give me earthly things, I will repay heavenly. You give me temporal things, I will restore eternal. I will restore you to yourself, when I shall have restored you unto Me.

Sermon 74 on the New Testament

[CXXIV. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, John 5:2 , Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, etc.

1. The lesson of the Gospel has just sounded in our ears, and made us intent to know what is the meaning of what has been read. This, I suppose, is looked for from me, this I promise, by the Lord's assistance, to explain as well as I can. For without doubt it is not without a meaning, that those miracles were done, and something they figured out to us bearing on eternal saving health. For the health of the body which was restored to this man, of how long duration was it? For what is your life? says Holy Scripture; it is a vapour that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away. Therefore in that health was restored to this man's body for a time, some enduringness was restored to a vapour. So then this is not to be valued much; Vain is the health of man. And, brethren, recollect that Prophetical and Evangelical testimony, for it is read in the Gospel; All flesh is grass, and all the glory of flesh as the flower of grass; the grass withers, the flower falls away, the Word of the Lord endures forever. The Word of the Lord communicates glory even to the grass, and no transitory glory; for even to flesh He gives immortality.

2. But first passes away the tribulation of this life, out of which He gives us help, to whom we have said, Give us help from tribulation. And all this life is indeed a tribulation to the understanding. For there are two tormentors of the soul, torturing it not at once, but alternating their tortures. These two tormentors' names are, Fear and Sorrow. When it is well with you, you are in fear; when it is ill, you are in sorrow. This world's prosperity, whom does it not deceive, its adversity not break? In this grass, and in the days of grass, the surer way must be kept to, the Word of God. For when it had been said, All flesh is grass, and all the glory of flesh as the flower of grass, the grass withers, the flower falls away; as though we should ask, What hope has grass? What stability the flower of grass? it is said, but the Word of the Lord endures forever. And whence, you will say, is that Word to me? The Word was made Flesh, and dwelt among us. For the Word of the Lord says to you, Do not reject My promise, for I have not rejected your grass. This then that the Word of the Lord has granted to us, that we might hold to Him, that we might not pass away with the flower of grass; this, I say, that He has granted to us, that the Word should be made Flesh, taking Flesh, not changed into flesh, abiding, and assuming, abiding what He was, assuming what He was not; this, I say, that He has granted to us, that pool also signifies.

3. I am speaking briefly. That water was the Jewish people; the five porches were the Law. For Moses wrote five books. Therefore was the water enclosed by five porches as that people was held in by the Law. The troubling of the water is the Lord's Passion among that people. He who descended was healed, and only one; for this is unity. Whosoever are offended at the Passion of Christ are proud; they will not descend, they are not healed. And, say they, Am I to believe that God was Incarnate, that God was born of a woman, that God was crucified, scourged, dead, wounded, buried? Be it far from me to believe this of God, it is unworthy of Him. Let the heart speak, not the neck. To the proud the humiliation of the Lord seems unworthy of Him, therefore is saving health from such far off. Lift not yourself up; if you would be made whole, descend. Well might piety be alarmed, if Christ in the flesh subject to change were only spoken of. But now the truth sets forth to you, Christ Unchangeable in His Nature as the Word. For, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God; not a word to sound, and so pass away; for the Word was God. So then your God endures unchangeable. O true piety; your God endures, fear not; He does not perish, and through Him, you too do not perish. He endures, He is born of a woman, but in the Flesh. The Word made even His Mother. He who was before He was made, made her in whom He was to be made Himself. He was an infant, but in the Flesh. He nursed, He grew, He took nourishment, He ran through the several stages of life, He came to man's estate, but in the Flesh. He was wearied, and He slept, but in the Flesh. He suffered hunger and thirst, but in the Flesh. He was apprehended, bound, scourged, assailed with railings, crucified finally, and killed, but in the Flesh. Why are you alarmed? The Word of the Lord endures forever. Whoever rejects this humiliation of God, does not wish for healing from the deadly swelling of pride.

4. So then by His Flesh did the Lord Jesus Christ grant hope to our flesh. For He took on Him what we knew well in this earth, what abounds here, to be born, and to die. To be born and to die, abounded here; to rise again and to live for ever, was not here. Poor earthly merchandize found He here, He brought here strange and heavenly. If you are alarmed at death, love the resurrection. He has given you help out of tribulation; for vain your health had ever been. Let us acknowledge therefore and love the saving health in this world strange, that is, health everlasting, and live we in this world as strangers. Let us think that we are but passing away, so shall we be sinning less. Let us rather give thanks to our Lord God, that He has been pleased that the last day of this life should be both near and uncertain. From the earliest infancy even to decrepit old age, it is but a short span. If Adam had died today, what would it have profited him, that he had lived so long? What long time is there in that in which there is an end? No one recalls yesterday; today is pressed on by tomorrow, that it may pass away. In this little span let us live well, that we may go whence we may not pass away. And now even as we are talking, we are indeed passing away. Our words run on, and the hours fly by; so does our age, so our actions, so our honours, so our misery, so our happiness here below. All passes away, but let us not be alarmed; The Word of God endures forever. Let us turn to the Lord, etc.

Sermon 75 on the New Testament

[CXXV. Ben.]

Again in John 5:2 , etc., on the five porches, where lay a great multitude of impotent folk, and of the pool of Siloa.

1. Subjects strange neither to your ears nor hearts are now repeated: yet do they revive the affections of the hearer, and by repetition in some sort renew us: nor is it wearisome to hear what is well known already, for the words of the Lord are always sweet. The exposition of the sacred Scriptures is as the sacred Scriptures themselves: though they be well known, yet are they read to impress the remembrance of them. And so the exposition of them, though it be well known, is nevertheless to be repeated, that they who have forgotten it may be reminded, or they who chanced not to hear it may hear; and that with those who do retain what they are used to hear, it may by the repetition be brought to pass that they shall not be able to forget it. For I remember that I have already spoken to you, Beloved, on this lesson of the Gospel. Yet to repeat the same explanation to you is not wearisome, even as it was not wearisome to repeat the same Lesson to you. The Apostle Paul says in a certain Epistle, To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not wearisome, but for you it is necessary. So too with myself to say the same things to you, to me is not wearisome, but for you it is safe.

2. The five porches in which the infirm folk lay signify the Law, which was first given to the Jews and to the people of Israel by Moses the servant of God. For this Moses the minister of the Law wrote five books. In relation therefore to the number of the books which he wrote, the five porches figured the Law. But because the Law was not given to heal the infirm, but to discover and to manifest them; for so says the Apostle, For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the Law; But the Scripture has concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe; therefore in those porches the sick folk lay, but were not cured. For what says he? If there had been a law given which could have given life. Therefore those porches which figured the Law could not cure the sick. Some one will say to me, Why then was it given? The Apostle Paul has himself explained: Scripture, says he, has concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. For these folk who were sick, thought themselves to be whole. They received the Law, which they were not able to fulfil; they learned in what disease they were, and they implored the Physician's aid; they wished to be cured because they came to know they were in distress, which they would not have known if they had not been unable to fulfil the Law which had been given. For man thought himself innocent, and from this very pride of false innocence became more mad. To tame this pride then and to lay it bare, the Law was given; not to deliver the sick, but to convince the proud. Attend then, Beloved; to this end was the Law given, to discover diseases, not to take them away. And so then those sick folk who might have been sick in their own houses with greater privacy, if those five porches had not existed, were in those porches set forth to the eyes of all men, but were not by the porches cured. The Law therefore was useful to discover sins, because that man being made more abundantly guilty by the transgression of the Law, might, having tamed his pride, implore the help of Him That pities. Attend to the Apostle; The Law entered that sin might abound; but where sin abounded, grace has much more abounded. What is, The Law entered that sin might abound? As in another place he says, For where there is no law, there is no transgression. Man may be called a sinner before the Law, a transgressor he cannot. But when he has sinned, after that he has received the Law, he is found not only a sinner, but a transgressor. Forasmuch then as to sin is added transgression, therefore has sin abounded. And when sin abounds, human pride learns at length to submit itself, and to confess to God, and to say I am weak. To say to those words of the Psalm which none but the humbled soul says, I said, Lord, be merciful unto me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against you. Let the weak soul then say this that is at least convinced by transgression, and not cured, but manifested by the Law. Hear too Paul himself showing you, both that the Law is good, and yet that nothing but the grace of Christ delivers from sin. For the Law can prohibit and command; apply the medicine, that that which does not allow a man to fulfil the Law, may be cured, it cannot, but grace only does that. For the Apostle says, For I delight in the Law of God after the inner man. That is, I see now that what the Law blames is evil, and what the Law commands is good. For I delight in the Law of God after the inner man. I see another law in my members resisting the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity in the law of sin. This derived from the punishment of sin, from the propagation of death, from the condemnation of Adam, resists the law of the mind, and brings it into captivity in the law of sin which is in the members. He was convinced; he received the Law, that he might be convinced: see now what profit it was to him that he was convinced. Hear the following words, Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

3. Give heed then. Those five porches were significative of the Law, bearing the sick, not healing them; discovering, not curing them. But who did cure the sick? He that descended into the pool. And when did the sick man descend into the pool? When the Angel gave the sign by the moving of the water. For thus was that pool sanctified, for that the Angel came down and moved the water. Men saw the water; and from the motion of the troubled water they understood the presence of the Angel. If any one then went down, he was cured. Why then was not that sick man cured? Let us consider his own words; I have no man, he says, when the water is moved, to put me into the pool, but while I am coming, another steps down. Could not you then step down afterwards, if another step down before you? Here it is shown us, that only one was cured at the moving of the water. Whosoever stepped down first, he alone was cured: but whoever stepped down afterwards, at that moving of the water was not cured, but waited till it was moved again. What then does this mystery mean? For it is not without a meaning. Attend, Beloved. Waters are put in the Apocalypse for a figure of peoples. For when in the Apocalypse John saw many waters, he asked what it meant, and it was told him that they were peoples. The water then of the pool signified the people of the Jews. For as that people was held in by the five books of Moses in the Law, so that water too was enclosed by five porches. When was the water troubled? When the people of the Jews was troubled. And when was the people of the Jews troubled, but when the Lord Jesus Christ came? The Lord's Passion was the troubling of the water. For the Jews were troubled when the Lord suffered. See, what was just now read had relation to this troubling. The Jews wished to kill Him, not only because He did these things on the sabbaths, but because He called Himself the Son of God, making Himself equal with God. For Christ called Himself the Son after one manner, in another was it said to men, I said, You are Gods, and you are all children of the Most High. For if He had made Himself the Son of God in such sort as any man whatever may be called the son of God (for by the grace of God men are called sons of God); the Jews would not have been enraged. But because they understand Him to call Himself the Son of God in another way, according to that, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; and according to what the Apostle says, Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; they saw a man, and they were enraged, because He made Himself equal with God. But He well knew that He was equal, but wherein they saw not. For that which they saw they wished to crucify; by That which they saw not, they were judged. What did the Jews see? What the Apostles also saw, when Philip said, Show us the Father, and it suffices us. But what did the Jews not see? What not even the Apostles saw, when the Lord answered, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have ye not known Me? He that sees Me, sees the Father also. Because then the Jews were not able to see This in Him, they held Him for a proud and ungodly man, making Himself equal with God. Here was a troubling, the water was troubled, the Angel had come. For the Lord is called also the Angel of the Great Counsel, in that He is the messenger of the Father's will. For Angel in Greek is in Latin messenger. So you have the Lord saying that He announces to us the kingdom of Heaven. He then had come, the Angel of the Great Counsel, but the Lord of all the Angels. Angel on this account, because He took Flesh; the Lord of Angels, in that by Him all things were made, and without Him was nothing made. For if all things, Angels too. And therefore Himself was not made, because by Him all things were made. Now what was made, was not made without the operation of the Word. But the flesh which became the mother of Christ, could not have been born, if it had not been created by the Word, which was afterwards born of it.

4. The Jews then were troubled. What is this? Why does He these things on the sabbath days? And especially at those words of the Lord, My Father works hitherto, and I work. Their carnal understanding of this, that God rested on the seventh day from all His works, troubled them. For this is written in Genesis, and most excellently written it is, and on the best reasons. But they thinking that God as it were rested from fatigue on the seventh day after all, and that He therefore blessed it, because on it He was refreshed from His weariness, did not in their foolishness understand, that He who made all things by the Word, could not be wearied. Let them read, and tell me how could God be wearied, who said, Let it be made, and it was made. Today if a man could so do, as God did, how would he be wearied? He said, Let there be light, and the light was made. Again, Let there be a firmament, and it was made: if indeed He said, and it was not done, He was wearied. In another place briefly, He spoke, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created. He then who works thus, how does He labour? But if He labour not, how does He rest? But in that sabbath, in which it is said that God rested from all His works, in the Rest of God our rest was signified; because the sabbath of this world shall be, when the six ages shall have passed away. The six days as it were of the world are passing away. One day has passed away, from Adam unto Noe; another from the deluge unto Abraham; the third from Abraham unto David; the fourth from David unto the carrying away into Babylon; the fifth from the carrying away into Babylon unto the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now the sixth day is in passing. We are in the sixth age, in the sixth day. Let us then be reformed after the image of God, because that on the sixth day man was made after the image of God. What formation did then, let reformation do in us, and what creation did there, let creating-anew do in us. After this day in which we now are, after this age, the rest which is promised to the saints and prefigured in those days, shall come. Because in very truth too, after all things which He made in the world, He has made nothing new in creation afterwards. The creatures themselves shall be transformed and changed. For since the creatures were fashioned, nothing more has been added. But nevertheless, if He who made did not rule the world, what is made would fall to ruin: He cannot but administer that which He has made. Because then nothing has been added to the creation, He is said to have rested from all His works; but because He does not cease to govern what He made, rightly did the Lord say, My Father works even hitherto. Attend, Beloved. He finished, He is said to have rested; for He finished His works, and has added no more. He governs what He has made; therefore He does not cease to work. But with the same facility that He made, with the same does He govern. For do not suppose, brethren, that when He created He did not labour, and that He labours in that He governs: as in a ship, they labour who build the ship, and they who manage it labour too; for they are men. For with the same facility wherewith He spoke and they were made, with the same facility and judgment does He govern all things by the Word.

5. Let us not, because human affairs seem to be in disorder, fancy that there is no governance of human affairs. For all men are ordered in their proper places; but to every man it seems as though they have no order. Look only to what you would wish to be; for as you shall wish to be, the Master knows where to place you. Look at a painter. Before him are placed various colors, and he knows where to set each color on. Questionless the sinner has chosen to be the black color; does not then the Artist know where to place him? How many parts does the painter finish off with the color of black? How many ornaments does he make of it? With it he makes the hair, the beard, the eye-brows; he makes the face of white only. Look then to that which you would wish to be; take no care where He may order you who cannot err, He knows where to place you. For so we see it happen by the common laws of the world. Some man, for instance, has chosen to be a house-breaker: the law of the judge knows that he has acted contrary to the law: the law of the judge knows where to place him; and orders him most properly. He indeed has lived evilly; but not evilly has the law ordered him. From a house-breaker he will be sentenced to the mines; from the labour of such how great works are constructed? That condemned man's punishment is the city's ornament. So then God knows where to place you. Do not think that you are disturbing the counsel of God, if you are minded to be disorderly. Does not He who knew how to create, know how to order you? Good were it for you to strive for this, to be set in a good place. What was said of Judas by the Apostle? He went unto his own place. By the operation of course of Divine Providence, because by an evil will he chose to be evil, but God did not by ordering evil make it. But because that evil man himself chose to be a sinner, he did what he would, and suffered what he would not. In that he did what he would, his sin is discovered; in that he suffered what he would not, the order of God is praised.

6. Wherefore have I said all this? That ye, brethren, may understand what was most excellently said by the Lord Jesus Christ, My Father works even hitherto. In that He does not abandon the creature which He made. And He said, As He works, so do I also work. In this He at once signified that He was equal with God. My Father, says He, works hitherto, and I work. Their carnal sense touching the rest was troubled. For they thought that the Lord being wearied rested, that He should work no more. They hear, My Father works even hitherto: they are troubled. And I work: He has made Himself equal with God: they are troubled. But be not alarmed. The water is troubled, now the sick man is to be cured. What means this? Therefore are they troubled, that the Lord may suffer. The Lord does suffer, the precious Blood is shed, the sinner is redeemed, grace is given to the sinner, to him that says, Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. But how is he cured? If he step down. For that pool was so made, that men should go down, and not come up to it. For there might be pools of such a kind, so constructed, that men must go up to them. But why was this made in such a way that men must go down to it? Because the Lord's Passion searches for the humble. Let the humble go down, let him not be proud, if he wishes to be cured. But why was it but one? Because the Church is only One throughout the world, unity is saved. When then one is made whole, unity is signified. By one understand unity. Depart not then from unity, if you would not be without a part in this saving cure.

7. What then does it mean that the man was in infirmity thirty-eight years? I know, brethren, that I have spoken of this already; but even those who read forget, how much more they who hear but seldom? Attend therefore for a little while, Beloved. In the number forty, the accomplishment of righteousness is figured. The accomplishment of righteousness, in that we live here in labour, in toil, in self-restraint, in fastings, in watchings, in tribulations; this is the exercise of righteousness, to bear this present time, and to fast as it were from this world; not from the food of the body, which we do but seldom; but from the love of the world, which we ought to do always. He then fulfils the law who abstains from this world. For he cannot love that which is eternal, unless he shall cease to love that which is temporal. Consider a man's love: think of it as, so to say, the hand of the soul. If it is holding anything, it cannot hold anything else. But that it may be able to hold what is given to it, it must leave go what it holds already. This I say, see how expressly I say it; Whoever loves the world cannot love God; he has his hand engaged. God says to him, Hold what I give. He will not leave go what he was holding; he cannot receive what is offered. Have I said a man should not possess ought? If he is able, if perfection require this of him, let him not possess. If hindered by any necessity he is not able, let him possess, not be possessed; let him hold, not be held; let him be the lord of his possessions, not the slave; as says the Apostle However, brethren, the time is short; it remains that both they that have wives, be as though they had not; and they who buy, as though they possessed not; and they who rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they who weep, as though they wept not; and they who use this world, as though they used it not; for the fashion of this world passes away. I would have you be without carefulness. What is, Do not love what you possess in this world? Let it not hold your hand fast, by which God must be held. Let not your love be engaged, whereby you can make your way to God, and cleave to Him who created you.

8. You will say and make answer to me, Yea, God knows that I possess innocently what I have. Temptation proves you. There is a troubling of your possessions, and you blaspheme. It is but lately we were in such a case. There is a troubling of your possessions, and you are not found what you were, and dost show that there is one thing in your mouth today, and another in your mouth yesterday. And I would that you would only defend your own even with vehemence; and not try to usurp with audacity another's; and what is worse, to escape reprehension, maintain that what is another's is your own. But why need I say more? This I advise, this I say, Brethren, and as a brother advise; God bids, and I admonish because I am admonished. He alarms me, who does not allow me to keep silence. He exacts of me what He has given. For He has given it to be laid out, not to be kept up. And if I should keep it and hide it, He says to me, Thou wicked and slothful servant, why did you give not My money to the exchangers, that at My coming I might require it with usury? And what will it profit me that I have lost nothing of that which I received? That is not enough for my Lord, He is covetous; but God's covetousness is our salvation. He is covetous, He looks for His own money, He gathers in His Own image. You should have given, says He, the money to the exchangers, that at My coming I might require it with usury. And if by any chance forgetfulness should make me fail of admonishing you, the temptations and tribulations at least which we are suffering, would be an admonition to you. You have heard at least the word of God. Blessed be the Lord and His glory. For you are here gathered together, and are hanging on the word of God's minister. Turn not your attention to our flesh, by which the word is given out to you; for hungry men regard not the meanness of the dish, but the preciousness of the food. God is proving you. You are gathered together, you praise the word of God; temptation will prove in what manner ye hear it: ye will have the active business of life whereby your true character will be shown. For so he who today is shouting with railings, was yesterday a ready listener. Therefore I forewarn; therefore I tell you, therefore I do not withhold it, my Brethren, that the time of questioning will come. For the Lord makes question of the righteous and of the ungodly. This you know you have sung, this have we sung together; The Lord makes question of the righteous and the ungodly. And what follows? But he that loves iniquity, hates his own soul. And in another place, Into the thoughts of the ungodly there shall be questioning made. God does not make question of you there, where I question you. I question your tongue, God questions your thoughts. For He knows how you hear, and He knows how to require, Who orders me to give. He has wished me to be a dispenser, the requiring He has reserved to Himself. To admonish, to teach, to rebuke, is ours; but to save, and to crown, or to condemn, and to cast into hell, is not ours; But the Judge shall deliver to the officer, and the officer to the prison. Verily I say unto you, you shall not go out thence, till you pay the last farthing.

9. Let us then return to our subject. The perfection of righteousness is shown by the number forty. What is it to fulfil the number forty? To restrain one's self from the love of this world. Restraint from temporal things, that they be not loved to our destruction, is, as it were, fasting from this world. Therefore the Lord fasted forty days, and Moses, and Elias. He then who gave His servants the power to fast forty days, could He not fast eighty or a hundred? Why then did He not will to fast more than He had given His servants to do, but because in this number forty is the mystery of fasting, the restraint from this world? What is this to say? What the Apostle says; The world is crucified to me, and I to the world. He then fulfils the number forty. And what does the Lord show? That because Moses did this, this Elias, this Christ, that this both the Law, and the Prophets, and the Gospel, teach; that you may not think that there is one thing in the Law, another in the Prophets, another in the Gospel. All Scripture teaches you nothing else, but restraint from the love of the world, that your love may speed on to God. As a figure that the Law teaches this, Moses fasted forty days. As a figure that the Prophets teach it, Elias fasted forty days. As a figure that the Gospel teaches it, the Lord fasted forty days. And therefore in the mount too these three appeared, the Lord in the middle, Moses and Elias at the sides. Wherefore? Because the Gospel itself receives testimony from the Law and the Prophets. But why in the number forty is the perfection of righteousness? In the Psalter it is said, O God, I will sing a new song unto You, upon a psaltery of ten strings will I sing praises unto You. Which signifies the ten precepts of the Law, which the Lord came not to destroy, but to fulfil. And the Law itself throughout the whole world, it is evident, has four quarters, the East, and West, South, and North, as the Scripture says. And hence the vessel which bare all the emblematic animals, which was exhibited to Peter, when he was told, Kill and eat, that it might be shown that the Gentiles should believe and enter into the body of the Church, just as what we eat enters into our body, and which was let down from heaven by four corners (these are the four quarters of the world), showed that the whole world should believe. Therefore in the number forty is restraint from the world. This is the fulfilling of the Law: now the fulfilling of the Law is charity. And therefore before the Pasch we fast forty days. For this time before the Pasch is the sign of this our toilsome life, wherein, in toils, and cares, and continence, we fulfil the Law. But afterwards we celebrate the Pasch, that is, the days of the Lord's resurrection signifying our own resurrection. Therefore fifty days are celebrated; because the reward of the denarius is added to the forty, and it becomes fifty. Why is the reward a denarius? Have ye not read, how that they who were hired into the vineyard, whether at the first, or sixth, or the last hour, could only receive the denarius? When to our righteousness shall be added its reward, we shall be in the number fifty. Yea, and then shall we have none other occupation, save to praise God. And therefore throughout those days we say, Hallelujah. For Halleluiah is the praise of God. In this frail estate of mortality, in this fortieth number here, as though before the resurrection, let us groan in prayers, that we may sing praises then. Now is the time of longing, then will be the time of embracing and enjoying. Let us not faint in the time of forty, that we may joy in the time of fifty.

10. Now who is he that fulfills the Law, but he that has charity? Ask the Apostle, Charity is the fulfilling of the Law. For all the Law is fulfilled in one word, in that which is written, You shall love your neighbour as yourself. But the commandment of charity is twofold; You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great commandment. The other is like it; You shall love your neighbour as yourself. They are the words of the Lord in the Gospel: On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. Without this twofold love the Law cannot be fulfilled. As long as the Law is not fulfilled, there is infirmity. Therefore he had two short, who was infirm thirty and eight years. What means, had two short? He did not fulfil these two commandments. What does it profit that the rest is fulfilled, if those are not fulfilled? Have you thirty-eight? If you have not those two, the rest will profit you nothing. You have two short, without which the rest avail not, if you have not the two commandments which conduct unto salvation. If I speak with the tongues of men and angels, and have not charity, I have become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And if I distribute all my substance, and if I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profits me nothing. They are the Apostle's words. All those things therefore which he mentioned are as it were the thirty-eight years; but because charity was not there, there was infirmity. From that infirmity who then shall make whole, but He who came to give charity? A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another. And because He came to give charity, and charity fulfills the Law, with good reason said He, I came not to destroy the Law, but to fulfil. He cured the sick man, and told him to carry his couch, and go unto his house. And so too He said to the sick of the palsy whom He cured. What is it to carry our couch? The pleasure of our flesh. Where we lie in infirmity, is as it were our bed. But they who are cured master and carry it, are not by this flesh mastered. So then, you whole one, master the frailness of your flesh, that in the sign of the forty days' fast from this world, you may fulfill the number forty, for that He has made that sick man whole, Who came not to destroy the Law, but to fulfil.

11. Having heard this, direct your heart to Godward. Do not deceive yourselves. Ask yourselves then when it is well with you in the world; then ask yourselves, whether ye love the world, or whether ye love it not; learn to let it go before you are let go yourselves. What is to let it go? Not heartily to love it. Whilst there is yet something with you which you must one day lose, and either in life or death let it go, it cannot be with you always; while I say it is yet with you, loosen your love; be prepared for the will of God, hang upon God. Hold you fast to Him, whom you can not lose against your will, that if it chance you to lose these temporal things, you may say, The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away, as it has pleased the Lord, so is it done, blessed be the Name of the Lord. But if it chance, and God so wills it, that the things you have be with you even to the last: for your detachment from this life you receive the denarius, the fifty, and the perfection of blessedness comes to pass in you, when you shall sing Hallelujah. Having these things which I have now brought forward in your memory, may they avail to overthrowing your love of the world. Evil is its friendship, deceitful, it makes a man the enemy of God. Soon, in one single temptation, a man offends God, and becomes His enemy. Nay not then becomes His enemy; but is then discovered to have been His enemy. For when he was loving and praising Him, he was an enemy; but he neither knew it himself, nor did others. Temptation came, the pulse is touched, and the fever discovered. So then brethren, the love of the world, and the friendship of the world, make men the enemies of God. And it does not make good what it promises, it is a liar, and deceives. Therefore men never cease hoping in this world, and who attains to all he hopes for? But whereunto soever he attains, what he has attained to is immediately disesteemed by him. Other things begin to be desired, other fond things are hoped for; and when they come, whatsoever it is that comes to you, is disesteemed. Hold you fast then to God, for He can never be of light esteem, for nothing is more beautiful than He. For for this cause are these things disesteemed, because they cannot stand, because they are not what He is. For nought, O soul, suffices you, save He who created you. Whatsoever else you apprehend is wretched; for He Alone can suffice you who made you after His Own likeness. Thus it was expressly said, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us. There only can there be security; and where security can be, there in a certain sort will be insatiable satiety. For you will neither be so satiated, as to wish to depart; nor will anything be wanting, as though you could suffer want.

Sermon 76 on the New Testament

[CXXVI. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, John 5:19 , The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father doing.

1. The mysteries and secrets of the kingdom of God first seek for believing men, that they may make them understanding. For faith is understanding's step; and understanding faith's attainment. This the Prophet expressly says to all who prematurely and in undue order look for understanding, and neglect faith. For he says, Unless ye believe, you shall not understand. Faith itself then also has a certain light of its own in the Scriptures, in Prophecy, in the Gospel, in the Lessons of the Apostles. For all these things which are read to us in this present time, are lights in a dark place, that we may be nourished up unto the day. The Apostle Peter says, We have a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that you take heed, as unto a light in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts.

2. You see then, Brethren, how exceedingly unregulated and disordered in their haste are they who like immature conceptions seek an untimely birth before the birth; who say to us, Why do you bid me believe what I do not see? Let me see something that I may believe. Thou biddest me believe while yet I see not; I wish to see, and by seeing to believe, not by hearing. Let the Prophet speak. Unless ye believe, you shall not understand. You wish to ascend, and dost forget the steps. Surely, out of all order. O man, if I could show you already what you might see, I should not exhort you to believe.

3. Faith then, as it has been elsewhere defined, is the firm support of those who hope, the evidence of things which are not seen. If they are not seen, how are they evidenced to be? What! Whence are these things which you see, but from That which you see not? To be sure you see somewhat that you may believe somewhat, and from that you see, may believe what you see not. Be not ungrateful to Him who has made you see, whereby you may be able to believe what as yet you can not see. God has given you eyes in the body, reason in the heart; arouse the reason of the heart, wake up the interior inhabitant of your interior eyes, let it take to its windows, examine the creature of God. For there is one within who sees by the eyes. For when your thoughts within you are on any other subject, and the inhabitant within is turned away, the things which are before your eyes you see not. For to no purpose are the windows open, when he who looks through them is away. It is not then the eyes that see, but some one sees by the eyes; awake him, arouse him. For this has not been denied you; God has made you a rational animal, set you over the cattle, formed you after His Own image. Ought you to use them as the cattle do; only to see what to add to your belly, not to your soul? Stir up, I say, the eye of reason, use your eyes as a man should, consider the heaven and earth, the ornaments of the heaven, the fruitfulness of the earth, the flight of the birds, the swimming of the fish, the virtue of the seeds, the order of the seasons; consider the works, and seek for the Author; take a view of what you see, and seek Him whom you see not. Believe on Him whom you see not, because of these things which you see. And lest you think that it is with my own words that I have exhorted you; hear the Apostle saying, For the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen by those things which are made.

4. These things you disregarded, nor looked upon them as a man, but as an irrational animal. The Prophet cried out to you, and cried in vain. Be not like to horse and mule, which have no understanding. These things I say you saw, and disregard. God's daily miracles were disesteemed, not for their easiness, but their constant repetition. For what is more difficult to understand than a man's birth, that one who was in existence should by dying depart into darkness, and that one who was not, by being born should come forth to light? What so marvellous, what so difficult to comprehend? But with God easy to be done. Marvel at these things, awake; at His unusual works, you can wonder, are they greater than those which you are accustomed to see? Men wondered that our Lord God Jesus Christ filled so many thousands with five loaves; and they do not wonder that through a few grains the whole earth is filled with crops. When the water was made wine, men saw it, and were amazed; what else takes place with the rain along the root of the vine? He did the one, He does the other; the one that you may be fed, the other that you may wonder. But both are wonderful, for both are the works of God. Man sees unusual things, and wonders; whence is the man himself who wonders? Where was he? Whence came he forth? Whence the fashion of his body? Whence the distinction of his limbs? Whence that beautiful form? From what beginnings? What contemptible beginnings? And he wonders at other things, when he the wonderer is himself a great wonder. Whence then are these things which you see but from Him whom you see not? But as I had begun to say, because these things were disesteemed by you, He came Himself to do unusual things, that in these usual ones too you might acknowledge your Creator. He came to Whom it is said, Renew signs. To Whom it is said, Show forth Your marvellous mercies. For dispensing them He ever was; He dispensed them, and no one marvelled. Therefore came He a Little one to the little, He came a Physician to the sick, who was able to come when He would, to return when He would, to do whatsoever He would, to judge as He would. And this, His will, is very righteousness; yea what He wills, I say, is very righteousness. For that is not unrighteous which He wills, nor can that be right which He wills not. He came to raise the dead, men marvelling that He restored a man to the light who was in light already, He who day by day brings forth to the light those who were not.

5. These things He did, yet was He despised by the many, who considered not so much what great things He did, as how small He was; as though they said within themselves, These are divine things, but He is a man. Two things then you see, divine works, and a man. If divine works cannot be wrought but by God, take heed lest in This Man God lie concealed. Attend, I say, to what you see; believe what you see not. He has not abandoned you, who has called you to believe; though He enjoin you to believe that which you can not see: yet has He not given you up to see nothing whereby you may be able to believe what you do not see. Is the creation itself a small sign, a small indication of the Creator? He also came, He did miracles. You could not see God, a man you could, so God was made Man, that in One you might have both what to see, and what to believe. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Thus you hear, and as yet see not. Lo, He comes, lo, He is born, lo, He comes forth of a woman, who made man and woman. He who made man and woman was not made by man and woman. For you would perhaps have been likely to despise Him for being born, the manner of His birth can you not despise; for He ever was before that He was born. Lo, I say, He took a Body, He was clothed in Flesh, He came forth from the womb. Do you now see? Do you see now, I say? I ask as to the Flesh, but I point out as to That Flesh; something you see, and something you see not. Lo, in this very Birth, there are at once two things, one which you may see, and another you may not see; but so that by this which you see, you may believe that which you see not. You had begun to despise, because you see Him who was born; believe what you do not see, that He was born of a virgin. How trifling a person, says one, is he who was born! But how great is He who was of a virgin born! And He who was born of a virgin brought you a temporal miracle; He was not born of a father, of any man, I mean, His father, yet was He born of the flesh. But let it not seem impossible to you, that He was born by His mother only, Who made man before father and mother.

6. He brought you then a temporal miracle, that you may seek and admire Him who is Eternal. For He who came forth as a Bridegroom out of His chamber, that is, out of the virgin's womb, where the holy nuptials were celebrated of the Word and the Flesh: He brought, I say, a temporal miracle; but He is Himself eternal, He is coeternal with the Father, He it is, who In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He did for you whereby you might be cured, that you might be able to see what you did not see. What you despise in Christ, is not yet the contemplation of him that is made whole, but the medicine of the sick. Do not hasten to the vision of the whole. The Angels see, the Angels rejoice, the Angels feed Thereon and live; Whereon they feed fails not, nor is their food minished. In the thrones of glory, in the regions of the heavens, in the parts which are above the heavens, the Word is seen by the Angels, and is their Joy; is their Food, and endures. But in order that man might eat Angel's Bread, the Lord of Angels became Man. This is our Salvation, the Medicine of the infirm, the Food of the whole.

7. And He spoke to men, and said what you have now heard, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do. Is there now any one, think we, that understands this? Is there any one, think we, in whom the eye-salve of the flesh has now its effect to the discerning in any fashion the brightness of the Divinity? He has spoken, let us speak too; He, because the Word; we, because of the Word. And why speak we, howsoever we do it, of the Word? Because we were made by the Word after the likeness of the Word. As far then as we are capable of, as far as we can be partakers of that ineffableness, let us also speak, and let us not be contradicted. For our faith has gone before, so that we may say, I believed, therefore have I spoken. I speak then that which I believe; whether or no I also see, or howsoever I see; He sees rather; ye cannot see it. But when I shall have spoken, whether he who sees what I speak of, believe that I see too what I have spoken of, or whether he believe it not, what is that to me? Let him only really see, and let him believe what he will of me.

8. The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do. Here rises up an error of the Arians; but it rises up that it may fall; because it is not humbled, that it may rise. What is it which has set you off? You would say that the Son is less than the Father. For you have heard, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do. From this you would have the Son called less; it is this I know, I know it is this has set you off; believe that He is not less, you can not as yet see it, believe, this is what I was saying a little while ago. But how, you will say, am I to believe against His own words? He says Himself, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do. Attend too to that which follows; For whatever things the Father does, the same also does the Son likewise; He did not say, such things, Beloved, consider a while, that you cause not confusion to yourselves. There is need of a tranquil heart, a godly and devout faith, a religious earnest attention; attend, not to me the poor vessel, but to Him who puts the bread in the vessel. Attend then a while. For in all that I have said above in exhorting you to faith, that the mind imbued with faith may be capable of understanding, all that has been said has had a pleasing, glad, and easy sound, has cheered your minds, you have followed it, you have understood what I said. But what I am now about to say I hope there are some who will understand; yet I fear that all will not understand. And seeing that God has by the lesson of the Gospel proposed to us a subject to speak upon, and we cannot avoid that which the Master has proposed; I fear lest haply they who will not understand, who perhaps will be the greater number, should think that I have spoken to them in vain; but yet because of those who will understand, I do not speak in vain. Let him who understands rejoice, let him who does not understand bear it patiently; what he does not understand, let him bear, and that he may understand, let him bear delay.

9. He does not say then, Whatever things the Father does, such does the Son: as if the Father does some things, and the Son others. For it did seem as though He had meant this when He said above, The Son does nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do. Mark; He did not there either say, But what He hears the Father enjoin; but, what He sees the Father do. If then we consult the carnal understanding, or sense rather, He has set before Him as it were two workmen, the Father and the Son, the Father working without seeing any, the Son working from seeing the Father. This is still a carnal view. Nevertheless, in order to understand those things which are higher, let us not decline these lower and mean things. First, let us set something before our eyes in this way; let us suppose there are two workmen, father and son. The father has made a chest, which the son could not make, unless he saw the father making it: he keeps his mind on the chest which the father has made, and makes another chest like it, not the same. I put off for a while the words which follow, and now I ask the Arian; Do you understand it in the sense of this supposition? Hath the Father done something, which when the Son saw Him do, He too has done something like it? For do the words by which you are perplexed seem to have this meaning? Now He does not say, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He hears the Father enjoin. But He says, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do. See, if you understand it thus; the Father has done something, and the Son attends that He may see what He Himself too has to do; and that, some other thing like that which the Father had done. This which the Father has done, by whom has He done it? If not by the Son, if not by the Word, you have incurred the charge of blasphemy against the Gospel. For all things were made by Him. So then what the Father had done, He had done by the Word; if by the Word He had done it, He had done it by the Son. Who then is that other who attends, that He may do some other thing which he sees the Father do? You have not been wont to say that the Father has two sons: there is One, One Only-Begotten of Him. But through His mercy, Alone as regards His Divinity and not Alone as regards the inheritance. The Father has made coheirs with His Only Son; not begotten them like Him of His Own Substance, but adopted them by Him out of His Own family. For we have been called, as Holy Scripture testifies, into the adoption of sons.

10. What then do you say? It is the Only Son Himself That speaks; the Only-Begotten Son speaks in the Gospel: the Word Himself has given us the words, we have heard Himself saying, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do. Now then the Father does that the Son may see what to do; and nevertheless the Father does nothing but by the Son. Assuredly you are confused, you heretic, assuredly you are confused; but your confusion is as from taking hellebore, that you may be cured. Even now you can not find your own self, you even yourself condemn your own judgment and your carnal view, I think. Put behind you the eyes of the flesh, raise up what eyes you have in your heart, behold things divine. They are men's words it is true you hear, and by a man, by the Evangelist, by the Gospel you hear men's words, as a man; but it is of the Word of God you hear, that you may hear what is human, come to know what is Divine. The Master has given trouble, that He might instruct; has sown a difficulty, that He might excite an earnest attention. The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do. It might follow that He should say, For whatever things the Father does, the like does the Son. This He does not say; but, Whatever things the Father does, the same does the Son likewise. The Father does not some things, the Son other things; because all things that the Father does, He does by the Son. The Son raised Lazarus; did not the Father raise him? The Son gave sight to the blind man; did not the Father give him sight? The Father by the Son in the Holy Ghost. It is the Trinity; but the Operation of the Trinity is One, the Majesty One, the Eternity One, the Coeternity One, and the Works the Same. The Father does not create some men, the Son others, the Holy Ghost others; the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost create one and the same man; and the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, One God, creates him.

11. You observe a Plurality of Persons, but acknowledge the Unity of the Divinity. For because of the Plurality of Persons it was said, Let Us make man after Our image and likeness. He did not say, I will make man, and do Thou attend when I am making him, that Thou too may be able to make another. Let Us make, He says; I hear the Plurality; after Our image; again I hear the Plurality. Where then is the Singularity of the Divinity? Read what follows, And God made man. It is said, Let Us make man; and it is not said, The Gods made man. The Unity is understood in that it was said, God made man.

12. Where then is that carnal view? Be it confounded, hidden, brought to nought; let the Word of God speak to us. Even now as godly men, as believing already, as already imbued with faith, and having gotten some attainment of understanding, turn we to the Word Himself, to the Fountain of light, and let us say together, O Lord, the Father does ever the same things as Thou; for that whatsoever the Father does, by You He does it. We have heard that You are the Word in the beginning; we have not seen, but believed. There too have we heard what follows, that 'all things were made by You.' All things then that the Father does, He does by You. Therefore You do the same things as the Father. Why then did You wish to say, 'The Son can do nothing of Himself'? For I see a certain equality in You with the Father, in that I hear, 'Whatever things the Father does, the same does the Son.' I recognise an equality, hereby I understand, and comprehend as far as I am able, 'I and My Father are One.' What means it, that You can do nothing, but what You see the Father do? What means this?

13. Peradventure He would say to me, yea say to us all: Now as to this that I have said, 'The Son can do nothing, but what He sees the Father do;' My 'Seeing' how do you understand? My 'Seeing,' what is it? Put aside for a while the form of the servant which He took for your sake. For in that servant's form our Lord had eyes and ears in the Flesh, and that human form was the same figure of a Body, such as we bear, the same outlines of members. That Flesh had come from Adam: but He was not as Adam. So then the Lord walking whether on the earth or in the sea, as it pleased Him, as He would, for whatever He would, He could; looked at what He would; He fixed His eyes, He saw; He turned away His eyes, and did not see; who followed was behind Him, whoever could be seen, before Him; with the eyes of His Body, He saw only what was before Him. But from His Divinity nothing was hid. Put aside, put aside, I say, for a while the form of the servant, look at the Form of God in which He was before the world was made; in which He was equal to the Father; hereby receive and understand what He says to you, 'Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.' There see Him if you can, that you may be able to see what His 'Seeing' is. In the beginning was the Word. How does the Word see? Hath the Word eyes, or are our eyes found in Him, the eyes not of the flesh, but the eyes of godly hearts? For, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

14. Christ you see Man and God; He does manifest to you the Man, God He reserves for you. Now see how He reserves God for you, who does manifest Himself to you as Man. Whoever loves Me, says He, keeps My commandments; whoever loves Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him. And as if it were asked, What will You give to him whom You love? And I will manifest Myself, says He, to him. What means this, Brethren? He whom they saw already, promised that He would manifest Himself to them. To whom? Those by whom He was seen, or those also by whom He was not seen? Thus speaking to a certain Apostle, who asked to see the Father, that it might suffice him, and said, Show us the Father, and it suffices us — Then He standing before this servant's eyes, in the form of a servant, reserving for his eyes when deified the Form of God, says to him, Have I been so long time with you, and have ye not known Me? He that sees Me, sees the Father also. Thou ask to see the Father; see Me, you see Me, and dost not see Me. You see what for you I have assumed, you do not see What I have reserved for you. Give ear to My commandments, purify your eyes. For whoever loves Me, keeps My commandments, and I will love him. To him as keeping My commandments, and by My commandments made whole will I manifest Myself.

15. If then, Brethren, we are not able to see what the Seeing of the Word is, whither are we going? What Vision it may be with too great haste are we requiring? Why are we wishing to have shown us what we are not able to see? These things accordingly are spoken of which we desire to see, not as what we are able already to comprehend. For if you see the Seeing of the Word, perhaps in that you see the Seeing of the Word, you will see the Word Himself; that the Word may not be one thing, the Seeing of the Word another, lest there be Therein anything joined, and coupled, and double, and compacted. For It is something Simple, of a Simplicity ineffable. Not as with a man, the man is one thing, the man's seeing another. For sometimes a man's seeing is extinguished, and the man remains. This it is of which I said that I was about to say something which all would not be able to understand; the Lord even grant that some may have understood. My Brethren, to this end does He exhort us, that we may see, that the Seeing of the Word is beyond our powers; for they are small; be they nourished, perfected. Whereby? By the commandments. What commandments? He that loves Me, keeps My commandments. What commandments? For already do we wish to increase, to be strengthened, perfected, that we may see the Seeing of the Word. Tell us, Lord, now what commandments? A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another. This charity then, Brethren, let us draw from the plentifulness of the Fountain, let us receive it; be nourished by it. Receive that whereby you may be able to receive. Let charity give you birth, let charity nourish you; charity bring you to perfection, charity strengthen you; that you may see this Seeing of the Word, that the Word is not one thing and His Seeing another, but that the Seeing of the Word is the Very Word Himself; and so perhaps you will soon understand that that which is said, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do, is as if He had said, The Son would not be, if He had not been born of the Father. Let this suffice, Brethren; I know that I have said that which perhaps, if meditated upon, may develop itself to many, which oftentimes when expressed in words may chance to be obscured.

Sermon 77 on the New Testament

[CXXVII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, John 5:25 ,Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour comes, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the son of God; and they that hear shall live,etc.; and on the words of the apostle, things which eye saw not, etc., 1 Corinthians 2:9

1. Our hope, Brethren, is not of this present time, nor of this world, nor in that happiness whereby men are blinded that forget God. This ought we above all things to know, and in a Christian heart hold fast, that we were not made Christians for the good things of the present time, but for something else which God at once promises, and man does not yet comprehend. For of this good it is said, That eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, what things God has prepared for them that love Him. Because then this good, so great, so excellent, so ineffable, fell not in with man's understanding, it required God's promise. For what has been promised him, man blind of heart does not now comprehend; nor can it be shown to him at present, what he will one day be to whom the promise is given. For so an infant child, if he could understand the words of one speaking, when himself could neither speak, nor walk, nor do anything, but feeble as we see he is, unable to stand, requiring the assistance of others, were able only to understand him who should speak to him and tell him, Lo, as you see me walking, working, speaking, after a few years you shall be as I am; as he considered himself and the other, though he would see what was promised; yet considering his own feebleness, would not believe, and yet he would see what was promised. But with us infants, as it were, lying in this flesh and feebleness, that which is promised is at once great and is not seen; and so faith is aroused whereby we believe that we do not see that we may attain to see what we believe. Whosoever derides this faith, so as to think that he is not to believe in that he does not see; when that shall come which he believed not, is put to shame: being confounded is separated, being separated, is condemned. But whoever shall have believed, is put aside at the right hand, and shall stand with great confidence and joy among those to whom it shall be said, Come, blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the beginning of the world. But the Lord made an end when He spoke these words, thus, These shall go into everlasting burning, but the righteous into life eternal. This is the life eternal which is promised us.

2. Because men love to live on this earth, life is promised them; and because they exceedingly fear to die, eternal life is promised them. What do you love? To live. This shall you have. What do you fear? To die. You shall not suffer it. This seemed to be enough for human infirmity, that it should be said, You shall have eternal life. This the mind of man can comprehend, by its present condition it can in some sort comprehend what is to be. But by the imperfection of its present condition how far can it comprehend it? Because he lives, and does not wish to die; he loves eternal life, he wishes to live always, never to die. But they who shall be tormented in punishments, have even a wish to die, and cannot. It is no great thing then to live long, or to live for ever; but to live blessedly is a great thing. Let us love eternal life, and hereby may we know how greatly we ought to labour for eternal life, when we see men who love the present life, which lasts but for a time and must be brought to an end, labour so for it, that when the fear of death comes, they will do whatever they can, not to put away, but to put off death. How does a man labour, when death threatens, by flight, by concealment, by giving all he has, and redeeming himself, by toil, by endurance of torments and uneasinesses, by calling in physicians, and whatever else a man can do? See, how that after exhausting all his labour and his means, he is but able to contrive to live a little longer; to live always, he is not able. If then men strive with so great labour, with so great efforts, so great a cost, such earnestness, such watchfulness, such carefulness, that they may live a little longer; how should they strive that they may live for ever? And if they are called wise, who by all means strive to put off death, and live a few days, that they lose not a few days: how foolish are they who so live as to lose the day eternal!

3. This then only can be promised us, that this gift of God may in whatever measure be sweet to us, from this which we have at present; seeing that it is of His gift we have it, that we live, that we are in health. When then eternal life is promised, let us set before our eyes a life of such a kind, as to remove from it everything unpleasant which we suffer here. For it is easier for us to find what is not there, than what is there. Lo, here we live; we shall live there also. Here we are in health when we are not sick, and there is no pain in the body; there we shall be in health also. And when it is well with us in this life, we suffer no scourge; we shall suffer none there also. Suppose then a man here below living, in sound health, suffering no scourge; if any one were to grant him that he should be for ever so, and that this good estate should never cease, how greatly would he rejoice? How greatly be transported? How would he not contain himself in joy without pain, without torment, without end of life? If God had promised us this only, which I have mentioned, which I have just now in such words as I was able, described and set forth; at what a price ought it to be purchased if it were to be sold, how great a sum ought to be given to buy it? Would all that you had suffice, even though you should possess the whole world? And yet it is to be sold; buy it if you will. And be not much disquieted for a thing so great, because of the largeness of the price. Its price is no more than what you have. Now to procure any great and precious thing, you would get ready gold, or silver, or money, or any increase of cattle, or fruits, which might be produced in your possessions, to buy this I know not what great and excellent thing, whereby to live in this earth happily. Buy this too, if you will. Do not look for what you have, but for what you are. The price of this thing is yourself. Its price is what you are yourself. Give your own self, and you shall have it. Why are you troubled? Why disquieted? What? Are you going to seek for your own self, or to buy yourself? Lo, give your own self as you are, such as you are to that thing, and you shall have it. But you will say, I am wicked, and perhaps it will not accept me. By giving yourself to it, you will be good. The giving yourself to this faith and promise, this is to be good. And when you shall be good, you will be the price of this thing; and shall have, not only what I have mentioned, health, safety, life, and life without end; you shall not only have this, I will take away other things yet. There shall there be no weariness, and sleeping; there shall there be no hunger, and thirst; there shall there be no growing, and growing old; because there shall be no birth either where the numbers remain entire. The number that is there is entire; nor is there any need for it to be increased, seeing there is no chance of diminution there. Lo, how many things have I taken away, and I have not yet said what shall be there. Lo, already there is life, and safety; no scourge, no hunger, no thirst, no failing, none of these; and yet I have not said, what eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has ascended into the heart of man. For if I have said it, it is false that is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it ascended into the heart of man. For whence should it ascend into my heart, that I should say that which has not ascended into the heart of man? It is believed, and not seen; not only not seen, but not even expressed. How then is it believed, if it is not expressed? Who believes what he does not hear? But if he hear it that he may believe, it is expressed; if expressed, it is thought of; if thought of and expressed, then it enters into the ears of men. And because it would not be expressed if it were not thought of, it has ascended also into the heart of man. Lo, already the mere proposing of so great a thing disturbs us, that we cannot put it forth clearly in words. Who then can explain the thing itself?

4. Let us attend to the Gospel; just now the Lord was speaking, and let us do what He said. He that believes in Me, says He, passes from death unto life, and comes not into judgment. Verily I say unto you, that the hour shall come, and now is, when the dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself. By begetting Him He gave it; in that He begot, He gave it. For the Son is of the Father, not the Father of the Son; but the Father is the Father of the Son, and the Son is the Son of the Father. I say the Son is begotten of the Father, not the Father of the Son; and the Son was always, always therefore begotten. Who can comprehend this always begotten? For when any man hears of one begotten, it occurs to him; Therefore there was a time, when he who was begotten was not. What say we then? Not so; there was no time before the Son, for that all things were made by Him. If all things were made by Him, times also were made by Him; how could times be before the Son, by whom times were made? Take away then all times, the Son was with the Father always. If the Son were with the Father always, and yet the Son, He was begotten always; if begotten always, He who was begotten was always with Him That begot Him.

5. You will say, This have I never seen, one begetting, and always with him whom he begot; but he that begot came first, and he that was begotten followed in time. You say well, I have never seen this; for this appertains to that which eye has not seen. Do you ask how it may be expressed? It cannot be expressed; For the ear has not heard, neither has it ascended unto the heart of man. Be it believed and adored, when we believe, we adore; when we adore, we grow; when we grow, we comprehend. For as yet while we are in this flesh, as long as we are absent from the Lord, we are, with respect to the Holy Angels who see these things, infants to be suckled by faith, hereafter to be fed by sight. For so says the Apostle, As long as we are in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We shall some day come to sight, which is thus promised us by John in his Epistle; Dearly beloved, we are the sons of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be. We are the sons of God now by grace, by faith, by the Sacrament, by the Blood of Christ, by the redemption of the Saviour; We are the sons of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

6. Lo, unto the comprehending of what are we being nourished up; lo, unto the embracing and the feeding on what are we being nourished up; yet so as that that which is fed on is not diminished, and he that feeds is supported. For now food supports us by eating it; but the food which is eaten, is diminished; but when we shall begin to feed on Righteousness, to feed on Wisdom, to feed on that Food Immortal, we are at once supported, and That Food is not diminished. For if the eye knows how to feed on light, and yet does not diminish the light; for the light will be no less because it is seen by more; it feeds the eyes of more, and yet is as great as it was before: both they are fed, and it is not diminished; if God has granted this to the light which He has made for the eyes of the flesh, what is He Himself, the Light for the eyes of the heart? If then any choice food were praised to you, on which you were to dine, you would prepare the stomach; God is praised to you, prepare the heart.

7. Behold what your Lord says to you: The hour shall come, says He, and now is. The hour shall come, yea, that very hour, now is, when — what? when the dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of God, and they that shall hear shall live. They then that shall not hear, shall not live. What is, They that shall hear? They that shall obey. What is, They that shall hear? They that shall believe and obey, they shall live. So then before they believed and obeyed, they lay dead; they walked, and were dead. What availed it to them, that they walked, being dead? And yet if any among them were to die a bodily death, they would run, get ready the grave, wrap him up, carry him out, bury him, the dead, the dead; of whom it is said, Let the dead bury their dead. Such dead as these are in such wise raised by the Word of God, as to live in faith. They who were dead in unbelief, are aroused by the Word. Of this hour said the Lord, The hour shall come, and now is. For with His Own Word did He raise them that were dead in unbelief; of whom the Apostle says, Arise you that sleep, and rise up from the dead, and Christ shall give you light. This is the resurrection of hearts, this is the resurrection of the inner man, this is the resurrection of the soul.

8. But this is not the only resurrection, there remains a resurrection of the body also. Whoever rises again in soul, rises again in body to his blessedness. For in soul all do not rise again; in body all are to rise again. In soul, I say, all do not rise again; but they that believe and, obey; for, They that shall hear shall live. But as the Apostle says, All men have not faith. If then all men have not faith, all men do not rise again in soul. When your hour of the resurrection of the body shall come, all shall rise again; be they good or bad, all shall rise again. But whoever first rises again in soul, to his blessedness rises again in body; whoever does not first rise again in soul, rises again in body to his curse. Whoever rises again in soul, rises again in body unto life; whoever rises not again in soul, rises again in body unto punishment. Seeing then that the Lord has impressed upon us this resurrection of souls, unto which we ought all to hasten, and to labour that we may live therein, and living persevere even unto the end, it remained for Him to impress upon us the resurrection of bodies also, which is to be at the end of the world. Now hear how He has impressed this too.

9. When He had said, Verily I say unto you, The hour shall come, and now is, when the dead, that is, the unbelievers, shall hear the Voice of the Son of God, that is, the Gospel, and they that shall hear, that is, that shall obey, shall live, that is, shall be justified, and shall be unbelievers no longer; when, I say, He had said this, forasmuch as He saw that we had need to be instructed as to the resurrection of the flesh also, and were not to be left thus, He went on and said, For as the Father has life in Himself, so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself. This refers to the resurrection of souls, to the quickening of souls. Then He added, And has given Him power to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. This Son of God, is Son of Man. For if the Son of God had continued the Son of God, and had not been made the Son of Man, He would not have delivered the sons of men. He who had made man, was Himself made that which He made, that what He made might not perish. But He was in such wise made the Son of Man, as to continue the Son of God. For He was made Man by assuming that which He was not, not by losing That which He was; continuing God, He was made Man. He took you, He was not consumed in you. As such then came He to us, the Son of God, and Son of Man, the Maker and the Made, the Creator and the Created; the Creator of His mother, Created of His mother; such came He to us. In respect of His being the Son of God, He says, The hour shall come, and now is, when the dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of God. He did not say, Of the Son of Man; for He was impressing the truth, wherein He is equal to the Father. And they that shall hear shall live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself; not by participation, but in our God. But He, the Father, has life in Himself; and He begot such a Son as should have life in Himself; not be made a partaker of life, but Himself be Life, of which life we should be partakers; that is, should have life in Himself, and Himself be Life. But that He should be made the Son of Man, He took from us. Son of God in Himself; that He should be the Son of Man, He took from us. Son of God of That which is His Own, Son of Man of ours. That which is the less, took He from us; That which is the more, gave He to us. For thus He died in that He is the Son of Man, not in that He is the Son of God. Yet the Son of God died; but He died in respect to the flesh, not in respect to the Word which was made flesh, and dwelt among us. So then in that He died, He died of that which was ours; in that we live, we live of That which is His. He could not die of That which was His own, nor could we live of that which is our own. As God then, as the Only-Begotten, as equal with Him who begot Him, did the Lord Jesus impress this upon us, that if we hear, we shall live.

10. But, says He, He has given Him power to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. So then that Form is to come to judgment. The Form of Man is to come to judgment; therefore He said, He has given Him power to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. The Judge here shall be the Son of Man; here shall That Form judge which was judged. Hear and understand: the Prophet had said this already, They shall look on Him whom they pierced. That Very Form shall they see which they smote with a spear. He shall sit as Judge, Who stood at the judge's seat. He shall condemn the real criminals, Who was made a criminal falsely. He shall come Himself, That Form shall come. This you find in the Gospel too; when before the eyes of His disciples He was going into heaven, they stood and looked on, and the Angelic voice spoke, You men of Galilee, why stand ye, etc. This Jesus shall come in like manner as you see Him going into heaven. What is, shall come in like manner? Shall come in this Very Form. For He has given Him power to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Now see on what principle this was behooveful and right, that they who were to be judged might see the Judge. For they who were to be judged were both good and bad. But blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. It remained that in the Judgment the Form of the servant should be manifested both to good and bad, the Form of God be reserved for the good alone.

11. For what is it that the good are to receive? Behold I am now expressing that which I did not express a little above; and yet in expressing I do not express it. For I said that there we shall be in sound health, shall be safe, shall be living, shall be without scourges, without hunger and thirst, without failing, without loss of our eyes. All this I said; but what we shall have more, I said not. We shall see God. Now this will be so great, yea so great a thing will it be, that in comparison of it, all the rest is nothing. I said that we shall be living, that we shall be safe and sound, that we shall suffer no hunger and thirst, that we shall not fall into weariness, that sleep will not oppress us. All this, what is it to that happiness, whereby we shall see God? Because then God cannot be now manifested as He is, whom nevertheless we shall see; therefore, what eye has not seen, nor ear heard, this the good shall see, this shall the godly see, this the merciful shall see, this shall the faithful see, this shall they see who shall have a good lot in the resurrection of the body, for that they have had a good obedience in the resurrection of the heart.

12. Shall then the wicked man see God too? Of whom Isaiah says, Let the ungodly be taken away, that he see not the Glory of God. Both the ungodly and the godly then shall see that Form; and when the sentence, Let the ungodly be taken away that he see not the Glory of God, shall have been pronounced; it remains that as to the godly and the good, that be fulfilled which the Lord Himself promised, when He was here in the flesh, and seen not by the good only, but by the evil also. He spoke among the good and evil, and was seen of all, as God, hidden, as Man, manifested; as God ruling men, as Man appearing among men: He spoke, I say, among them, and said, Whoever loves Me, keeps My commandments; and he that loves Me, shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him. And as if it were said to Him, And what will You give him? And I will, He says, manifest Myself to him. When did He say this? When He was seen by men. When did He say this? When He was seen even by them, by whom He was not loved. How then was He to manifest Himself to them that loved Him, save in Such a Form, as they who loved Him then saw not? Therefore, seeing that the Form of God was being reserved, the Form of man manifested; by the Form of man, speaking to men, conspicuous and visible, He manifested Himself to all, both good and bad, He reserved Himself for them that loved Him.

13. When is He to manifest Himself to them that love Him? After the resurrection of the body, when the ungodly shall be taken away that he see not the Glory of God. For then when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. This is life eternal. For all that we said before is nothing to that life. That we live, what is it? That we are in health, what is it? That we shall see God, is a great thing. This is life eternal; this Himself has said, But this is life eternal, that they may know You the Only True God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. This is life eternal, that they may know, see, comprehend, acquaint themselves with what they had believed, may perceive that which they were not yet able to comprehend. Then may the mind see what eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it ascended into the heart of man; this shall be said to them at the end, Come, you blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the beginning of the world. Those wicked ones then shall go into everlasting burning. But the righteous, whither? Into life eternal? What is life eternal? This is life eternal, that they may know You, the Only True God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.

14. Speaking then of the future resurrection of the body, and not leaving us thus, He says, He has given Him power to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Marvel not at this, for the hour shall come. He did not add in this place, and now is; because this hour shall be hereafter, because this hour shall be at the end of the world, because this shall be the last hour, shall be at the last trump. Marvel not at this, because I have said, He has given Him power to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Marvel not. For this reason have I said this, because it behooves Him as Man to be judged by men. And what men shall He judge? Those whom He finds alive? Not only those, but what? The hour shall come, when they that are in the graves. How did He express those that are dead in the flesh? They who are in the graves, whose corpses lie buried, whose ashes are covered up, whose bones are dispersed, whose flesh is flesh no more, and yet is entire to God. The hour shall come, when all that are in the graves shall hear His Voice, and shall come forth. Be they good or bad, they shall hear the Voice, and shall come forth. All the bands of the grave shall be burst asunder; all that was lost, yea rather was thought to be lost shall be restored. For if God made man who was not, can He not re-fashion that which was?

15. I suppose when it is said, God shall raise the dead again, no incredible thing is said for it is of God, not of man, that it is said. It is a great thing which shall be done, yea, an incredible thing that shall be done. But let it not be incredible, for see, who It is That does it. He it is said shall raise you, Who created you. You were not, and you are; and once made, shall you not be? God forbid you should think so! God did something more marvellous when He made that which was not; and nevertheless He did make that which was not; and shall it be disbelieved that He is able to re-fashion that which was, by those very persons whom He made what they were not? Is this the return we make to God, we who were not, and were made? Is this the return we make Him, that we will not believe that He is able to raise again what He has made? Is this the return which His creature renders Him? Have I therefore, God says to you, made you, O man, before you were, that you should not believe Me, that you shall be what you were, who hast been able to be what you were not? But you will say, Lo, what I see in the tomb, is dust, ashes, bones; and shall this receive life again, skin, substance, flesh, and rise again? What? These ashes, these bones, which I see in the tomb? Well. At least you see ashes, you see bones in the tomb; in your mother's womb there was nothing. This you see, ashes at least there are, and bones; before that you were, there was neither ashes, nor bones; and yet you were made, when you were not at all; and do you not believe that these bones (for in whatever state, of whatever kind they are, yet they are), shall receive the form again which they had, when you have received what you had not? Believe; for if you shall believe this, then shall your soul be raised up. And your soul shall be raised up now; The hour shall come, and now is; then to your blessing shall your flesh rise again, when the hour shall come, that all that are in the graves shall hear His Voice, and shall come forth. For you must not at once rejoice, because you hear and come forth; hear what follows, They that have done good unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. Turning to the Lord, etc.

Sermon 78 on the New Testament

[CXXVIII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, John 5:31 ,If I bear witness of myself, etc.; and on the words of the apostle, Galatians 5:16 , Walk by the spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts, etc.

1. We have heard the words of the holy Gospel; and this that the Lord Jesus says, If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true, may perplex some. How then is not the witness of the Truth true? Is it not Himself who has said, I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life? Whom then are we to believe, if we must not believe the Truth? For of a surety he is minded to believe nothing but falsehood, who does not choose to believe the truth. So then this was spoken on their principles, that you should understand it thus, and gather this meaning from these words; If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true, that is, as you think. For He knew well that His Own witness of Himself was true; but for the sake of the weak, and hard of belief, and without understanding, the Sun looked out for lamps. For their weakness of sight could not bear the dazzling brightness of the Sun.

2. Therefore was John sought for to bear witness to the Truth; and you have heard what He said; You came unto John; he was a burning and a shining lamp, and you were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. This lamp was prepared for their confusion, for of this was it said so long time before in the Psalms, I have prepared a lamp for Mine Anointed. What! A lamp for the Sun! His enemies will I clothe with confusion: but upon Himself shall my sanctification flourish. And hence they were in a certain place confounded by means of this very John, when the Jews said to the Lord, By what authority do You do these things? Tell us. To whom He answered, Do ye tell Me too, The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? They heard, and held their peace. For they thought at once with themselves. If we shall say, Of men: the people will stone us; for they hold John as a prophet. If we shall say, From heaven; He will say to us, Why then have ye not believed him? For John bore witness to Christ. So straitened in their hearts by their own questions, and taken in their own snares, they answered, We do not know. What else could the voice of darkness be? It is right indeed for a man when he does not know, to say, I know not. But when he does know, and says, I know not; he is a witness against himself. Now they knew well John's excellency, and that his baptism was from heaven; but they were unwilling to acquiesce in Him to whom John bore witness. But when they said, We do not know; Jesus answered them. Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. And they were confounded; and so was fulfilled, I have prepared a lamp for Mine Anointed, His enemies will I clothe with confusion.

3. Are not Martyrs witnesses of Christ, and do they not bear witness to the truth? But if we think more carefully, when those Martyrs bear witness, He bears witness to Himself. For He dwells in the Martyrs, that they may bear witness to the truth. Hear one of the Martyrs, even the Apostle Paul; Would ye receive a proof of Christ, who speaks in Me? When John then bears witness, Christ, who dwells in John, bears witness to Himself. Let Peter bear witness, let Paul bear witness, let the rest of the Apostles bear witness, let Stephen bear witness, it is He who dwells in them all that bears witness to Himself. For He without them is God, they without Him, what are they?

4. Of Him it is said, He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, He gave gifts unto men. What is, He led captivity captive? He conquered death. What is, He led captivity captive? The devil was the author of death, and the devil was himself by the Death of Christ led captive. He ascended up on high. What do we know higher than heaven? Visibly and before the eyes of His disciples He ascended into heaven. This we know, this we believe, this we confess. He gave gifts unto men. What gifts? The Holy Spirit. He who gives such a Gift, what is He Himself? For great is God's mercy; He gives a Gift equal to Himself; for His Gift is the Holy Spirit, and the Whole Trinity, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, is One God. What has the Holy Spirit brought us? Hear the Apostle; The love of God, says he, has been shed abroad in our hearts. Whence, you beggar, has the love of God been shed abroad in your heart? How, or wherein has the love of God been shed abroad in the heart of man? We have, says he, this treasure in earthen vessels. Why in earthen vessels? That the excellency of the power may be of God? Finally, when he had said, The love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts; that no man might think that he has this love of God of himself, he added immediately, By the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Therefore, that you may love God, let God dwell in you, and love Himself in you, that is, to His love let Him move you, enkindle, enlighten, arouse you.

5. For in this body of ours there is a struggle; as long as we live, we are in combat; as long as we are in combat, we are in peril; but, in all these things we are conquerors through Him who loved us. Our combat ye heard of just now when the Apostle was being read. All the law, says he, is fulfilled in one word, even in this, You shall love your neighbour as yourself. This love is from the Holy Spirit. You shall love your neighbour as yourself. First see, if you know yet how to love yourself; and then will I commit to you the neighbour whom you are to love as yourself. But if you do not yet know how to love yourself; I fear lest you should deceive your neighbour as yourself. For if you love iniquity, you do not love yourself. The Psalm is witness; But whoever loves iniquity, hates his own soul. Now if you hate your own soul, what does it profit you that you love your flesh? If you hate your own soul and love your flesh, your flesh shall rise again; but only that your soul may be tormented. Therefore the soul must first be loved, which is to be subdued unto God, that this service may maintain its due order, the soul to God, the flesh to the soul. Would you that your flesh should serve your soul? Let your soul serve God. You ought to be ruled, that you may be able to rule. For so perilous is this struggle, that if your Ruler forsakes you, ruin must ensue.

6. What struggle? But if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed one of another. But I say, Walk in the Spirit. I am quoting the words of the Apostle, which have been just read out of his Epistle. But I say, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh. But I say, Walk in the Spirit, and the lusts of the flesh, he did not say, You shall not have; nor did he say, You shall not do; but, You shall not fulfil. Now what this is, with the Lord's assistance, I will declare as I shall be able; give attention, that you may understand, if you are walking in the Spirit. But I say, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh. Let him follow on; if haply anything, as this which is here obscure, may be understood more easily by the sequel of his words. For I said, that it was not without a meaning that the Apostle would not say, You shall not have the lusts of the flesh; nor again would even say, You shall not do the lusts of the flesh; but said, You shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh. He has set forth this struggle before us. In this battle are we occupied, if we are in God's service. What then follows? For the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. For these are contrary the one to the other, so that you do not the things that you would. This, if it be not understood, is with exceeding peril heard. And therefore anxious as I am lest men by an evil interpretation should perish, I have undertaken with the Lord's assistance to explain these words to your affection. We have leisure enough, we have begun early in the morning, the hour of dinner does not press; on this day, the sabbath that is, they that hunger after the word of God are wont especially to meet together. Hear and attend, I will speak with what carefulness I can.

7. What then is that which I said, Is heard with peril if it be not understood? Many overcome by carnal and damnable lusts, commit all sorts of crimes and impurities, and wallow in such abominable uncleanness, as it is a shame even to mention; and say to themselves these words of the Apostle. See what the Apostle has said, So that we cannot do the things that you would. I would not do them, I am forced, I am compelled, I am overcome, I do the things that I would not, as the Apostle says. The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, so that you cannot do the things that you would. You see with what peril this is heard, if it be not understood. You see how it concerns the pastor's office, to open the closed fountains, and to minister to the thirsty sheep the pure, harmless water.

8. Be not willing then to be overcome when you fight. See what kind of war, what kind of battle, what kind of strife he has set forth, within, within your own self. The flesh lusts against the Spirit. If the Spirit lust not also against the flesh, commit adultery. But if the Spirit lust against the flesh, I see a struggle, I do not see a victory, it is a contest. The flesh lusts against the Spirit. Adultery has its pleasure. I confess that it has its pleasure. But, The Spirit lusts against the flesh: Chastity too has its pleasure. Therefore let the Spirit overcome the flesh; or by all means not be overcome by the flesh. Adultery seeks the darkness, chastity desires the light. As you would wish to appear to others, so live; as you would wish to appear to men, even when beyond the eyes of men so live; for He who made you, even in the darkness sees you. Why is chastity praised publicly by all? Why do not even adulterers praise adultery? Whoever then seeks the truth, comes to the light. But adultery has its pleasure. Be it contradicted, resisted, opposed. For it is not so that you have nothing wherewith to fight. Your God is in you, the good Spirit has been given to you. And notwithstanding this flesh of ours is permitted to lust against the spirit by evil suggestions and real delights. Be that secured which the Apostle says, Let not sin reign in your mortal body. He did not say, Let it not be there. It is there already. And this is called sin, because it has befallen us through the wages of sin. For in Paradise the flesh did not lust against the spirit, nor was there this struggle there, where was peace only; but after the transgression, after that man was loth to serve God and was given up to himself; yet not so given up to himself as that he could so much as possess himself; but possessed by him, by whom deceived; the flesh began to lust against the Spirit. Now it is in the good that it lusts against the Spirit; for in the bad it has nothing to lust against. For there does it lust against the Spirit, where the Spirit is.

9. For when he says, The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; do not suppose that so much has been attributed to the spirit of man. It is the Spirit of God who fights in you against yourself, against that which in you is against you. For you would not stand to Godward; you fell, wast broken; as a vessel when it falls from a man's hand to the ground, were you broken. And because you were broken, therefore are you turned against yourself; therefore are you contrary to your own self. Let there be nought in you contrary to yourself, and you shall stand in your integrity. For that you may know that this office appertains to the Holy Spirit; the Apostle says in another place, For if you live after the flesh, you shall die; but if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live. From these words man was at once uplifting himself, as though by his own spirit he were able to mortify the deeds of the flesh. If you live after the flesh, you shall die; but if through the Spirit ye do mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live. Explain to us, Apostle, through what spirit? For man also has a spirit appertaining to his proper nature, whereby he is man. For man consists of body and spirit. And of this spirit of man it is said, No man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him. I see then that man himself has his own spirit appertaining to his proper nature, and I hear you saying, But if through the Spirit ye do mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live. I ask, through what spirit; my own, or God's? For I hear your words, and am still perplexed by this ambiguity. For when the word spirit is used, it is used sometimes of the spirit of a man, and of cattle, as it is written, that all flesh which had in itself the spirit of life, died by the flood. And so the word spirit is spoken of cattle, and spoken of man too. Sometimes even the wind is called spirit; as it is in the Psalm, Fire, hail, snow, frost, the spirit of the tempest. For as much then as the word spirit is used in many ways, by what spirit, O Apostle, have you said that the deeds of the flesh are to be mortified; by my own, or by the Spirit of God? Hear what follows, and understand. The difficulty is removed by the following words. For when he had said, But if through the Spirit ye mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live; he added immediately, For as many as are acted upon by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Thou dost act, if you are acted upon, and actest well, if you are acted upon by the Good. So then when he said to you, If through the Spirit ye mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live; and it was doubtful with you of what spirit he had spoken, in the words following understand the Master, acknowledge the Redeemer. For That Redeemer has given you the Spirit Whereby you may mortify the deeds of the flesh. For as many as are acted upon by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. They are not the sons of God if they are not acted upon by the Spirit of God. But if they are acted upon by the Spirit of God, they fight; because they have a mighty Helper. For God does not look on at our combattings as the people do at the gladiators. The people may favour the gladiator, help him they cannot when he is in peril.

10. So then here to; The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And what means, So that you cannot do the things that you would? For here is the peril with one who understands it amiss. Be it now my office to explain it, howsoever incompetent. So that you cannot do the things that you would. Attend, you holy ones, whosoever you are that are fighting. To them that are battling do I speak. They who are fighting, understand; he that is not fighting, understands me not. Yea, he that is fighting, I will not say understands me, but anticipates me. What is the chaste man's wish? That no lust should rise up in his members at all opposed to chastity. He wishes for peace, but as yet he has it not. For when we shall have come to that state, where there shall rise up no lust at all to be opposed, there will be no enemy for us to struggle with; nor is victory a matter for expectation there, for that there is triumphing over the now vanquished foe. Hear of this victory, in the Apostle's own words; This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. Now when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality; then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. Hear the voices of them that triumph; O death, where is your contention? O death, where is your sting? You have smitten, you have wounded, you have thrown down; but He has been wounded for me who made me. O death, death, He who made me has been wounded for me, and by His Death has overcome you. And then in triumph shall they say, O death, where is your contention? O death, where is your sting?

11. But now, when the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, is the contention of death; we do not what we would. Why? Because we would that there should be no lusts, but we cannot hinder it. Whether we will or not, we have them; whether we will or not, they solicit, they allure, they sting, they disturb us, they will be rising. They are repressed, not yet extinguished. How long does the flesh lust against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh? Will it be so, even when the man is dead? God forbid! You put off the flesh, how then shall you draw the lusts of the flesh along with you? Nay, if you have fought well, you shall be received into rest. And from this rest, you pass to be crowned, not condemned; that you may after it be brought to the Kingdom. As long then as we live here, my brethren, so it is; so is it with us even who have grown old in this warfare, less mighty enemies it is true we have, but yet we have them. Our enemies are in a measure wearied out even now by age; but nevertheless, wearied though they be, they do not cease to harass by such excitements as they can the quiet of old age. Sharper is the fight of the young; we know it well, we have passed through it: The flesh then lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; so that you cannot do the things that you would. For what would ye, O holy men, and good warriors, and brave soldiers of Christ? What would ye? That there should be no evil lusts at all. But ye cannot help it. Sustain the war, hope for triumph. For now in the meanwhile ye must fight. The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; so that you cannot do the things that you would; that is, that there should be no lusts of the flesh at all.

12. But do what you are able; what the Apostle himself says in another place, which I had already begun to repeat; Let not sin reign in your mortal body, to obey the desires thereof. Lo, what I would not; evil desires arise; but obey them not. Arm yourself, assume the weapons of war. The precepts of God are your arms. If you listen to me as you should, you are armed even by that which I am speaking. 'Let not sin,' he says, 'reign in your mortal body.' For as long as you bear a mortal body, sin does fight against you; but let it not reign. What is, Let it not reign? That is, to obey the desires thereof. If you begin to obey, it reigns. And what is it to obey, but to yield your members as instruments of iniquity unto sin? Nothing more excellent than this teacher. What would you that I should yet explain to you? Do what you have heard. Yield not your members instruments of iniquity unto sin. God has given you power by His Spirit to restrain your members. Lust rises up, restrain your members; what can it do now that it has risen? Restrain your members; yield not your members instruments of iniquity unto sin; arm not your adversary against yourself. Restrain your feet, that they go not after unlawful things. Lust has risen up, restrain your members; restrain your hands from all wickedness; restrain the eyes, that they wander not astray; restrain the ears, that they hear not the words of lust with pleasure; restrain the whole body, restrain the sides, restrain its highest and lowest parts. What can lust do? How to rise up, it knows. How to conquer, it knows not. By rising up constantly without effect, it learns not even to rise.

13. Let us then return to the words, which I had set forth out of the Apostle as obscure, and we shall now see them to be plain. For this I had set forth, that the Apostle did not say, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not have the lusts of the flesh; because we must necessarily have them. Why then did he not say, You shall not do the lusts of the flesh? Because we do them; for we do lust. The very lusting, is doing. But the Apostle says, Now it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. What then have you to beware of? This doubtless, that you fulfil them not. A damnable lust has risen up, it has risen, made its suggestion; let it not be heard. It burns, and is not quieted, and you would that it should not burn. Where then is, So that you cannot do the things that you would? Do not give it your members. Let it burn without effect, and it will spend itself. In you then these lusts are done. It must be confessed, they are done. And therefore he said, You shall not fulfil. Let them not then be fulfilled. You have determined to do, you have fulfilled. For you have fulfilled it, if you determine upon committing adultery, and dost not commit it, because no place has been found, because no opportunity is given, because, it may be, she for whom you seem to be disturbed is chaste; lo, now she is chaste, and you are an adulterer. Why? Because you have fulfilled lusts. What is, have fulfilled? have determined in your mind upon committing adultery. If now, which God forbid, your members too have wrought, you have fallen down headlong into death.

14. Christ raised up the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue who was dead in the house. She was in the house, she had not yet been carried out. So is the man who has determined on some wickedness in his heart; he is dead, but he lies within. But if he has come as far as to the action of the members, he has been carried out of the house. But the Lord raised also the young man, the widow's son, when he was being carried out dead beyond the gate of the city. So then I venture to say, You have determined in your heart, if you call yourself back from your deed, you will be cured before you put it into action. For if you repent in your heart, that you have determined on some bad and wicked and abominable and damnable thing; there where you were lying dead, within, so within have you arisen. But if you have fulfilled, now have you been carried out; but you have One to say to you, Young man, I say unto you, Arise. Even though you have perpetrated it, repent you, return at once, come not to the sepulchre. But even here I find a third one dead, who was brought even to the sepulchre. He has now upon him the weight of habit, a mass of earth presses him down exceedingly. For he has been practised much in unclean deeds, and is weighed down exceedingly by his immoderate habit. Here too Christ cries, Lazarus, come forth. For a man of very evil habit now stinks. With good reason did Christ in that case cry out; and not cry out only, but with a loud Voice cried out. For at Christ's Cry even such as these, dead though they be, buried though they be, stinking though they be, yet even these shall rise again, they shall rise again. For of none that lies dead need we despair under such a Raiser up. Turn we to the Lord, etc.

Sermon 79 on the New Testament

[CXXIX. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, John 5:39 , You search the Scriptures, because ye think that in them you have eternal life, etc. Against the Donatists.

1. Give heed, Beloved, to the lesson of the Gospel which has just sounded in our ears, while I speak a few words as God shall vouchsafe to me. The Lord Jesus was speaking to the Jews, and said to them, Search the Scriptures, in which you think you have eternal life, they testify of me. Then a little after He said, I have come in My Father's Name, and you have not received Me; if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive. Then a little after; How can you believe, who look for glory one from another, and seek not the glory which is of God only? At last He says, I do not accuse you to the Father; there is one that accuses you, Moses, in whom you trust. For had ye believed Moses, you would haply believe Me also, for he wrote of Me. But seeing ye believe not his words, how can you believe Me? At these sayings which have been set before us from divine inspiration, out of the reader's mouth, but by the Saviour's ministry, give ear to a few words, not to be estimated by their number, but to be duly weighed.

2. For all these things it is easy to understand as touching the Jews. But we must beware, lest, when we give too much attention to them, we withdraw our eyes from ourselves. For the Lord was speaking to His disciples; and assuredly what He spoke to them, He spoke to us too their posterity. Nor to them only does what He said, Lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world, apply, but even to all Christians that should be after them, and succeed them even unto the end of the world. Speaking then to them He said, Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. They at that time thought that the Lord had said this, because they had brought no bread; they did not understand that Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees meant, beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees. What was the doctrine of the Pharisees, but that which you have now heard? Seeking glory one of another, looking for glory one from another, and not seeking the glory which is of God only. Of these the Apostle Paul thus speaks; I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. They have, he says, a zeal of God; I know it, I am sure of it; I was once among them, I was such as they. They have, he says, a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. What is this, O Apostle, not according to knowledge? Explain to us what the knowledge is you set forth, which you grieve is not in them, and would should be in us? He went on and subjoined and developed what he had set forth closed. What is, They have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge? For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and wishing to establish their own, have not submitted themselves into the righteousness of God. To be ignorant then of God's righteousness, and to wish to establish one's own, this is to look for glory one from another, and not to seek the glory which is of God only. This is the leaven of the Pharisees. Of this the Lord bids beware. If it is servants that He bids, and the Lord that bids, let us beware; lest we hear, Why say ye to Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

3. Let us then leave a while the Jews to whom the Lord was then speaking. They are without, they will not listen to us, they hate the Gospel itself, they procured false witness against the Lord, that they might condemn Him when alive; other witness they bought with money against Him when dead. When we say to them, Believe in Jesus, they answer us, Are we to believe in a dead man? But when we add, But He rose again; they answer, Not at all; His disciples stole Him away from the sepulchre. The Jewish buyers love falsehood and despise the truth of the Lord, the Redeemer. What you are saying, O Jew, your parents bought for money; and this which they bought has continued in you. Give heed rather to Him That bought you, not to him who bought a lie for you.

4. But as I have said, let us leave these, and attend rather to these our brethren, with whom we have to do. For Christ is the Head of the Body. The Head is in Heaven, the Body is on earth; the Head is the Lord, the Body His Church. But ye remember it is said, They shall be two in one flesh. This is a great mystery, says the Apostle, but I speak in Christ and in the Church. If then they are two in one flesh, they are two in one voice. Our Head the Lord Christ spoke to the Jews these things which we heard, when the Gospel was being read, The Head to His enemies; let the Body too, that is, the Church, speak to its enemies. You know to whom it should speak. What has it to say? It is not of myself that I have said, that the voice is one; because the flesh is one, the voice is one. Let us then say this to them; I am speaking with the voice of the Church. O Brethren, dispersed children, wandering sheep, branches cut off, why do ye calumniate me? Why do ye not acknowledge me? Search the Scriptures, in which you think you have eternal life, they testify of me; to the Jews our Head says, what the Body says to you; You shall seek me, and shall not find me. Why? Because ye do not search the Scriptures, which testify of me.

5. A testimony for the Head; To Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He says not, And to seeds, as of many, but as of one, And to your seed, which is Christ. A testimony for the body unto Abraham, which the Apostle has brought forward. To Abraham were the promises made. As I live, says the Lord, I swear by Myself, because you have obeyed My Voice, and hast not spared your own beloved son for Me, that in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand of the sea, and in your seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed. You have here a testimony for the Head, and one for the Body. Hear another, short, and almost in one sentence including a testimony for the Head and for the Body. The Psalm was speaking of the Resurrection of Christ; Be Thou exalted, O God, above the heavens. And immediately for the Body; And Your glory above all the earth. Hear a testimony for the Head; They dug My Hands and My Feet, they numbered all My Bones; and they looked and stared upon Me; they divided My garments among them, and cast lots upon My vesture. Hear immediately a testimony for the Body, a few words after, All the ends of the world shall remember themselves and be turned unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship in His sight; for the kingdom is the Lord's, and He shall have dominion over the nations. Hear for the Head; And He is as a bridegroom coming forth out of His bride-chamber. And in this same Psalm hear for the Body; Their sound went out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.

6. These passages are for the Jews, and for these of our own brethren. Why so? Because these Scriptures of the Old Testament both the Jews receive, and these our brethren receive. But Christ Himself, whom the others do not receive, let us see if these last receive. Let Him speak Himself, speak both for Himself who is the Head, and for His Body which is the Church; for so in us the head speaks for the body. Hear for the Head; He was risen from the dead, He found the disciples hesitating, doubting, not believing for joy; He opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures, and said to them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead the third day. Thus for the Head; let Him speak for the Body too; And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name throughout all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Let the Church then speak to her enemies, let her speak. She does speak clearly, she is not silent: only let them give ear. Brethren, you have heard the testimonies, now acknowledge me. Search the Scriptures, in which you hope you have eternal life: they testify of me. What I have said is not of my own, but of my Lord's; and notwithstanding, you still turn away, still turn your backs. How can you believe me, who look for glory one from another, and seek not the glory which is of God only? For being ignorant of God's righteousness, you have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and wishing to establish your own, you have not submitted yourselves to the righteousness of God. What else is it to be ignorant of God's righteousness, and to wish to establish your own, but to say, It is I who sanctify, it is I who justify; what I may have given is holy? Leave to God what is God's; recognise, O man, what is man's. You are ignorant of God's righteousness, and wishest to establish your own. You wish to justify me; it is enough for you that you be justified with me.

7. It is said of Antichrist, and all understand of him what the Lord said, I have come in My Father's Name, and you have not received Me; if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive. But let us hear John too; You have heard that Antichrist comes, and even now are there many Antichrists. What is it in Antichrist that we are in horror of, but that he is to honour his own name, and to despise the Name of the Lord? What else does he that says, It is I that justify? We answer him, I came to Christ, not with my feet, but with my heart I came; where I heard the Gospel, there did I believe, there was I baptized; because I believed on Christ, I believed on God. Yet says he, You are not clean. Why? Because I was not there. Tell me why am not I cleansed, a man who was baptized in Jerusalem, who was baptized, for instance, among the Ephesians, to whom an Epistle you read was written, and whose peace you despise? Lo, to the Ephesians the Apostle wrote; a Church was founded, and remains even to this day; yea, remains in greater fruitfulness, remains in greater numbers, holds fast that which it received of the Apostle, 'If any man preach ought to you than that you have received, let him be accursed.' What now? What do you say to me? Am I not clean? There was I baptized, am I not clean? No, even you are not. Why? Because I was not there. But He who is everywhere was there. He who is everywhere was there, in whose Name I believed. Thou coming I know not whence, yea, rather not coming, but wishing that I should come to you, fixed in this place, sayest to me, 'You were not baptized duly, seeing I was not there.' Consider who was there. What was said to John? 'Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending like a dove, this is He which baptizes.' Him have you seeking for you; nay, for that you have grudged me who was baptized by Him, you have lost Him rather.

8. Understand then, my Brethren, our language and theirs, and look which you would choose. This is what we say; Be we holy, God knows it; be we unrighteous, this again He knows better; place not your hope in us, whatsoever we be. If we be good, do as is written, 'Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ.' But if we be bad, not even thus are you abandoned, not even thus have ye remained without counsel: give ear to Him, saying, 'Do what they say; but do not what they do.' Whereas they on the contrary say, If we were not good, you were lost. Lo, here is another that shall come in his own name. Shall my life then depend on you, and my salvation be tied up in you? Have I so forgotten my foundation? Was not Christ the Rock? Is it not that he that builds upon the rock, neither the wind nor the floods overthrow him? Come then, if you will, with me upon the Rock, and do not wish to be to me for the rock.

9. Let the Church then say those last words also, If you had believed Moses, you would believe me also; for he wrote of me; for that I am His body of whom he wrote. And of the Church did Moses write. For I have quoted the words of Moses In your seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed. Moses wrote this in the first book. If you believed Moses, you would also believe Christ. Because ye despise Moses' words, it must needs be that you despise the words of Christ. They have there, says He, Moses and the Prophets, let them hear them. Nay, father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, him they will hear. And He said, If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they believe, if one rise again from the dead. This was said of the Jews: was it therefore not said of heretics? He had risen from the dead, who said, It behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead the third day. This I believe. I believe it, he says. Do you believe? Wherefore do you not believe what follows? In that you believe, It behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead the third day; this was spoken of the Head; believe also that which follows concerning the Church, That repentance and remission of sins should be preached throughout all nations. Wherefore do you believe as touching the Head, and believest not as touching the Body? What has the Church done to you, that you would so to say behead her? You would take away the Church's Head, and believe the Head, leave the Body as it were a lifeless trunk. It is all to no purpose that you caress the Head, like any devoted servant. He that would take off the head, does his best to kill both the head and the body. They are ashamed to deny Christ, yet are they not ashamed to deny Christ's words. Christ neither we nor you have seen with our eyes. The Jews saw, and slew Him. We have not seen Him, and believe; His words are with us. Compare yourselves with the Jews: they despised Him hanging upon the Tree, you despise Him sitting in heaven; at their suggestion Christ's title was set up, by your setting yourselves up, Christ's Baptism is effaced. But what remains, Brethren, but that we pray even for the proud, that we pray even for the puffed up, who so extol themselves? Let us say to God on their behalf, Let them know that the Lord is Your Name; and not that men, but Thou Only art the Most High over all the earth. Let us turn to the Lord, etc.

Sermon 80 on the New Testament

[CXXX. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, John 6:9 , where the miracle of the five loaves and the two fishes is related.

1. It was a great miracle that was wrought, dearly beloved, for five thousand men to be filled with five loaves and two fishes, and the remnants of the fragments to fill twelve baskets. A great miracle: but we shall not wonder much at what was done, if we give heed to Him That did it. He multiplied the five loaves in the hands of them that broke them, who multiplies the seeds that grow in the earth, so as that a few grains are sown, and whole barns are filled. But, because he does this every year, no one marvels. Not the inconsiderableness of what is done, but its constancy takes away admiration of it. But when the Lord did these things, He spoke to them that had understanding, not by words only, but even by the miracles themselves. The five loaves signified the five books of Moses' Law. The old Law is barley compared to the Gospel wheat. In those books are great mysteries concerning Christ contained. Whence He says Himself, If you had believed Moses, you would believe Me also; for he wrote of Me. But as in barley the marrow is hid under the chaff, so in the veil of the mysteries of the Law is Christ hidden. As those mysteries of the Law are developed and unfolded; so too those loaves increased when they were broken. And in this that I have explained to you, I have broken bread unto you. The five thousand men signify the people ordered under the five books of the Law. The twelve baskets are the twelve Apostles, who themselves too were filled with the fragments of the Law. The two fishes are either the two precepts of the love of God and our neighbour, or the two people of the circumcision and uncircumcision, or those two sacred personages of the king and the priest. As these things are explained, they are broken; when they are understood, they are eaten.

2. Let us turn to Him who did these things. He is Himself The Bread which came down from heaven; but Bread which refreshes the failing, and does not fail; Bread which can be tasted, cannot be wasted. This Bread did the manna also figure. Wherefore it is said, He gave them the Bread of heaven, man ate Angels' Bread. Who is the Bread of heaven, but Christ? But in order that man might eat Angels' Bread, the Lord of Angels was made Man. For if He had not been made Man, we should not have His Flesh; if we had not His Flesh, we should not eat the Bread of the Altar. Let us hasten to the inheritance, seeing we have hereby received a great earnest of it. My brethren, let us long for the life of Christ, seeing we hold as an earnest the Death of Christ. How shall He not give us His good things, who has suffered our evil things? In this our earth, in this evil world, what abounds, but to be born, to labour, and to die? Examine thoroughly man's estate, convict me if I lie: consider all men whether they are in this world for any other end than to be born, to labour, and to die? This is the merchandize of our country: these things here abound. To such merchandize did that Merchantman descend. And forasmuch as every merchant gives and receives; gives what he has, and receives what he has not; when he procures anything, he gives money, and receives what he buys: so Christ too in this His traffic gave and received. But what received He? That which abounds here, to be born, to labour, and to die. And what did He give? To be born again, to rise again, and to reign forever. O Good Merchant, buy us. Why should I say buy us, when we ought to give You thanks that You have bought us? Thou dost deal out our Price to us, we drink Your Blood; so do you deal out to us our Price. And we read the Gospel, our title deed. We are Your servants, we are Your creatures: You have made us, You have redeemed us. Any one can buy his servant, create him he cannot; but the Lord has both created and redeemed His servants; created them, that they might be; redeemed them, that they might not be captives ever. For we fell into the hands of the prince of this world, who seduced Adam, and made him his servant, and began to possess us as his slaves. But the Redeemer came, and the seducer was overcome. And what did our Redeemer to him who held us captive? For our ransom he held out His Cross as a trap; he placed in It as a bait His Blood. He indeed had power to shed His Blood, he did not attain to drink it. And in that he shed the Blood of Him who was no debtor, he was commanded to render up the debtors; he shed the Blood of the Innocent, he was commanded to withdraw from the guilty. He verily shed His Blood to this end, that He might wipe out our sins. That then whereby he held us fast was effaced by the Redeemer's Blood. For he only held us fast by the bonds of our own sins. They were the captive's chains. He came, He bound the strong one with the bonds of His Passion; He entered into his house into the hearts, that is, of those where he did dwell, and took away his vessels. We are his vessels. He had filled them with his own bitterness. This bitterness too he pledged to our Redeemer in the gall. He had filled us then as his vessels; but our Lord spoiling his vessels, and making them His Own, poured out the bitterness, filled them with sweetness.

3. Let us then love Him, for He is sweet. Taste and see that the Lord is sweet. He is to be feared, but to be loved still more. He is Man and God; the One Christ is Man and God; as one man is soul and body: but God and Man are not two Persons. In Christ indeed there are two substances, God and Man; but one Person, that the Trinity may remain, and that there be not a quaternity introduced by the addition of the human nature. How then can it be that God should not have mercy upon us, for whose sake God was made Man? Much is that which He has done already; more wonderful is that which He has done, than what He has promised; and by that which He has done, ought we to believe what He has promised. For that which He has done, we should scarcely believe, unless we also saw it. Where do we see it? In the peoples that believe, in the multitude that has been brought unto Him. For that has been fulfilled which was promised to Abraham; and from these things which we see, we believe what we do not see. Abraham was one single man, and to him was it said, In your seed shall all nations be blessed. If he had looked to himself, when would he have believed? He was one single man, and was now old; and he had a barren wife, and one who was so far advanced in age, that she could not conceive, even though she had not been barren. There was nothing at all from which any hope could be drawn. But he looked to Him That gave the promise, and believed what he did not see. Lo, what he believed, we see. Therefore from these things which we see, we ought to believe what we see not. He begot Isaac, we saw it not; and Isaac begot Jacob, and this we did not see; and Jacob begot twelve sons, and them we saw not; and his twelve sons begot the people of Israel; this great people we see. I have now begun to mention those things which we do see. Of the people of Israel was born the Virgin Mary, and she gave birth to Christ; and, lo, in Christ all nations are blessed. What more true? More certain? More plain? Together with me, long after the world to come, you who have been gathered together out of the nations. In this world has God fulfilled His promise concerning the seed of Abraham. How shall He not give us His eternal promises, whom He has made to be Abraham's seed? For this the Apostle says: But if you be Christ's (they are the Apostle's words), then are you Abraham's seed.

4. We have begun to be some great thing; let no man despise himself: we were once nothing; but we are something. We have said to the Lord, Remember that we are dust; but out of the dust He made man, and to dust He gave life, and in Christ our Lord has He already brought this same dust to the Kingdom of Heaven. For from this dust took He flesh, from this took earth, and has raised earth to heaven, He who made heaven and earth. If then these two new things, not yet done, were set before us, and it were asked of us, Which is the most wonderful, that He who is God should be made Man, or he who is man should be made a man of God? Which is the more wonderful? Which the more difficult? What has Christ promised us? That which as yet we see not; that is, that we should be His men, and reign with Him, and never die? This is so to say with difficulty believed, that a man once born should arrive at that life, where he shall never die. This is what we believe with a heart well cleansed, cleansed, I mean, of the world's dust; that this dust close not up our eye of faith. This it is that we are bid believe, that after we have been dead, we shall be even with our dead bodies in life, where we shall never die. Wonderful it is; but more wonderful is that which Christ has done. For which is the more incredible, that man should live for ever, or that God should ever die? That men should receive life from God is the more credible; that God should receive death from men I suppose is the more incredible. Yet this has been brought to pass already: let us then believe that which is to be. If that which is the more incredible has been brought to pass, shall He not give us that which is the more credible? For God has power to make of men Angels, who has made of earthy and filthy spawn, men. What shall we be? Angels. What have we been? I am ashamed to call it to mind; I am forced to consider it, yet I blush to tell it. What have we been? Whence did God make men? What were we before we were at all? We were nothing. When we were in our mother's wombs, what were we? It is enough that you remember. Withdraw your minds from the whence you were made, and think of what you are. You live; but so do herbs and trees live. You have sensation, and so have cattle sensation. You are men, you have got beyond the cattle, you are superior to the cattle; for that you understand how great things He has done for you. You have life, you have sensation, you have understanding, you are men. Now to this benefit what can be compared? You are Christians. For if we had not received this, what would it profit us, that we were men! So then we are Christians, we belong to Christ. For all the world's rage, it does not break us; because we belong to Christ. For all the world's caresses, it does not seduce us; we belong to Christ.

5. A great Patron have we found, Brethren. You know that men depend much upon their patrons. A dependent of a man in power will make answer to any one who threatens him. You can do nothing to me, as long as my lord's head is safe. How much more boldly and surely may we say, You can do nothing to us, while our Head is safe. Forasmuch as our Patron is our Head. Whosoever depend upon any man as patron, are his dependents; we are the members of our Patron. Let Him bear us in Himself, and let no man tear us away from Him. Since whatever labours we shall have endured in this world, all that passes away, is nothing. The good things shall come which shall not pass away; by labours we arrive at them. But when we have arrived, no one tears us away from them. The gates of Jerusalem are shut; they receive the bolts too, that to that city it may be said, Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem, praise your God, O Sion. For He has strengthened the bolts of your gates; He has blessed your children within you. Who has made your borders peace. When the gates are shut, and the bolts drawn, no friend goes out, no enemy enters in. There shall we have true and assured security, if here we shall not have abandoned the truth.

Sermon 81 on the New Testament

[CXXXI. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, John 6:53 , Unless you eat the flesh, etc., and on the words of the apostles. And the Psalms. Against the Pelagians.

Delivered at the Table of the Martyr St. Cyprian, the 9th of the Calends of October —23 Sept., on the Lord's day.

1. We have heard the True Master, the Divine Redeemer, the human Saviour, commending to us our Ransom, His Blood. For He spoke to us of His Body and Blood; He called His Body Meat, His Blood Drink. The faithful recognise the Sacrament of the faithful. But the hearers what else do they but hear? When therefore commending such Meat and such Drink He said, Unless you shall eat My Flesh and drink My Blood, you shall have no life in you; (and this that He said concerning life, who else said it but the Life Itself? But that man shall have death, not life, who shall think that the Life is false), His disciples were offended, not all of them indeed, but very many, saying within themselves, This is an hard saying, who can hear it? But when the Lord knew this in Himself, and heard the murmurings of their thought, He answered them, thinking though uttering nothing, that they might understand that they were heard, and might cease to entertain such thoughts. What then did He answer? Does this offend you? What then if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before? What means this? Does this offend you? Do ye imagine that I am about to make divisions of this My Body which you see; and to cut up My Members, and give them to you? 'What then if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before?' Assuredly, He who could ascend Whole could not be consumed. So then He both gave us of His Body and Blood a healthful refreshment, and briefly solved so great a question as to His Own Entireness. Let them then who eat, eat on, and them that drink, drink; let them hunger and thirst; eat Life, drink Life. That eating, is to be refreshed; but you are in such wise refreshed, as that that whereby you are refreshed, fails not. That drinking, what is it but to live? Eat Life, drink Life; you shall have life, and the Life is Entire. But then this shall be, that is, the Body and the Blood of Christ shall be each man's Life; if what is taken in the Sacrament visibly is in the truth itself eaten spiritually, drunk spiritually. For we have heard the Lord Himself saying, It is the Spirit That quickens, but the flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken unto you, are Spirit and Life. But there are some of you, says He, that believe not. Such were they who said, This is a hard saying, who can hear it? It is hard, but only to the hard; that is, it is incredible, but only to the incredulous.

2. But in order to teach us that this very believing is matter of gift, not of desert, He says, As I have said to you, no man comes unto Me, except it were given him of My Father. Now as to where the Lord said this, if we call to mind the foregoing words of the Gospel, we shall find that He had said, No man comes unto Me, except the Father which has sent Me draw him. He did not lead, but draw. This violence is done to the heart, not the body. Why then do you marvel? Believe, and you come; love, and you are drawn. Do not suppose here any rough and uneasy violence; it is gentle, it is sweet; it is the very sweetness that draws you. Is not a sheep drawn, when fresh grass is shown to it in its hunger? Yet I imagine that it is not bodily driven on, but fast bound by desire. In such wise do you come too to Christ; do not conceive of long journeyings; where you believe, there you come. For unto Him, who is everywhere we come by love, not by sailing. But forasmuch as even in this kind of voyage, waves and tempests of various temptations abound; believe in the Crucified; that your faith may be able to ascend the Wood. You shall not sink, but shall be borne upon the Wood. Thus, even thus, amid the waves of this world did he sail, who said, But God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

3. But wonderful it is, that when Christ Crucified is preached, two hear, one despises, the other ascends. Let him that despises, impute it to himself; let not him that ascends, arrogate it to himself. For he has heard from the True Master; No man comes unto Me, except it were given unto him of My Father. Let him joy, that it has been given; let him render thanks to Him who gives it, with a humble, not an arrogant heart; lest what he has attained through humility, he lose through pride. For even they who are already walking in this way of righteousness, if they attribute it to themselves, and to their own strength, perish out of it. And therefore Holy Scripture teaching us humility says by the Apostle, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. And lest hereupon they should attribute ought to themselves, because he said, Work, he subjoined immediately, For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. It is God who works in you; therefore with fear and trembling, make a valley, receive the rain. Low grounds are filled, high grounds are dried up. Grace is rain. Why do you marvel then, if God resist the proud, and gives grace unto the lowly? Therefore, with fear and trembling; that is, with humility. Be not high-minded, but fear. Fear that you may be filled; be not high-minded, lest you be dried up.

4. But you will say, I am walking in this way already; once there was need for me to learn, there was need for me to know by the teaching of the law what I had to do: now I have the free choice of the will; who shall withdraw me from this way? If you read carefully, you will find that a certain man began to uplift himself, on a certain abundance of his, which he had nevertheless received; but that the Lord in mercy, to teach him humility, took away what He had given; and he was on a sudden reduced to poverty, and confessing the mercy of God in his recollection, he said, In my abundance I said, I shall never be moved. In my abundance I said. But I said it, I who am a man said it; All men are liars, I said. Therefore, in my abundance I said; so great was the abundance, that I dared to say, I shall never be moved. What next? O Lord, in Your favour You gave strength to my beauty. But You turned away Your Face from me, and I was troubled. You have shown me, says he, that that wherein I did abound, was of You. You have shown me Whence I should seek, to Whom attribute what I had received, to Whom I ought to render thanks, to Whom I should run in my thirst, Whereby be filled, and with Whom keep that whereby I should be filled. 'For my strength will I keep to You;' whereby I am by Your bounty filled, through Your safe keeping I will not lose. 'My strength will I keep to You.' That You might show me this, 'You turned away Your Face from me, and I was troubled.' 'Troubled,' because dried up; dried up, because exalted. Say then you dry and parched one, that you may be filled again; 'My soul is as earth without water unto You.' Say, 'My soul is as earth without water unto You.' For You have said, not the Lord, 'I shall never be moved.' You have said it, presuming on your own strength; but it was not of yourself, and you thought as if it were.

5. What then does the Lord say? Serve ye the Lord in fear, and rejoice unto Him with trembling. So the Apostle too, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you. Therefore rejoice with trembling: Lest at any time the Lord be angry. I see that you anticipate me by your crying out. For you know what I am about to say, you anticipate it by crying out. And whence have ye this, but that He taught you to whom you have by believing come? This then He says; hear what ye know already; I am not teaching, but in preaching am calling to your remembrance; nay, I am neither teaching, seeing that you know already, nor calling to remembrance, seeing that you remember, but let us say all together what together with us ye retain. Embrace discipline, and rejoice, but, with trembling, that, humble ye may ever hold fast that which you have received. Lest at any time the Lord be angry; with the proud of course, attributing to themselves what they have, not rendering thanks to Him, from whom they have. Lest at any time the Lord be angry, and you perish from the righteous way. Did he say, Lest at any time the Lord be angry, and you come not into the righteous way? Did he say, Lest the Lord be angry, and He bring you not to the righteous way? Or admit you not into the righteous way? You are walking in it already, be not proud, lest ye even perish from it. 'And ye perish,' says he, 'from the righteous way.' When His wrath shall be kindled in a short time against you. At no distant time. As soon as you are proud, you lose at once what you had received. As though man terrified by all this were to say, What shall I do then? It follows, Blessed are all they that trust in Him: not in themselves, but in Him. By grace are we saved, not of ourselves, but it is the gift of God.

6. Peradventure you are saying, What does he mean, that he is so often saying this? A second and a third time he says it; and scarcely ever speaks, but when he says it. Would that I may not say it in vain! For men there are unthankful to grace, attributing much to poor and disabled nature. True it is, when man was created he received great power of free-will; but he lost it by sin. He fell into death, became infirm, was left in the way by the robbers half dead; the Samaritan, which is by interpretation keeper, passing by lifted him up on his own beast; he is still being brought to the inn. Why is he lifted up? He is still in process of curing. But, he will say, it is enough for me that in baptism I received remission of all sins. Because iniquity was blotted out, was therefore infirmity brought to an end? I received, says he, remission of all sins. It is quite true. All sins were blotted out in the Sacrament of Baptism, all entirely, of words, deeds, thoughts, all were blotted out. But this is the oil and wine which was poured in by the way. You remember, beloved Brethren, that man who was wounded by the robbers, and half dead by the way, how he was strengthened, by receiving oil and wine for his wounds. His error indeed was already pardoned, and yet his weakness is in process of healing in the inn. The inn, if you recognise it, is the Church. In the time present, an inn, because in life we are passing by: it will be a home, whence we shall never remove, when we shall have got in perfect health unto the kingdom of heaven. Meanwhile receive we gladly our treatment in the inn, and weak as we still are, glory we not of sound health: lest through our pride we gain nothing else, but never for all our treatment to be cured.

7. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Say, yea say to your soul, You are still in this life, still bearest about a frail flesh, still does the corruptible body press down the soul; still after the entireness of remission have you received the remedy of prayer; for still, while your weaknesses are being healed, do you say, Forgive us our debts. Say then to your soul, you lowly valley, not an exalted hill; say to your soul, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. What benefits? Tell them, enumerate them, render thanks. What benefits? Who forgives all your iniquities. This took place in baptism. What takes place now? Who heals all your weaknesses. This takes place now; I acknowledge. But as long as I am here, the corruptible body presses down the soul. Say then also that which comes next, Who redeems your life from corruption. After redemption from corruption, what remains? When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your contention? There rightly, O death, where is your sting? You seek its place, and findest it not. What is the sting of death? What is, O death, where is your sting? Where is sin? You seek, and it is nowhere. For the sting of death is sin. They are the Apostle's words, not mine. Then shall it be said, O death, where is your sting? Sin shall nowhere be, neither to surprise you, nor to assault you, nor to inflame your conscience. Then it shall not be said, Forgive us our debts. But what shall be said? O Lord our God, give us peace: for You have rendered all things unto us.

8. Finally, after the redemption from all corruption, what remains but the crown of righteousness? This at least remains, but even in it, or under it, let not the head be swollen that it may receive the crown. Hear, mark well the Psalm, how that crown will not have a swollen head. After he had said, Who redeems your life from corruption; he says, Who crowns you. Here you were ready at once to say, 'Crowns you,' is an acknowledgment of my merits, my own excellence has done it; it is the payment of a debt, not a gift. Give ear rather to the Psalm. For it is you again that sayest this; and all men are liars. Hear what God says; Who crowns you with mercy and pity. Of His mercy He crowns you, of His pity He crowns you. For you had no worthiness that He should call you, and being called should justify you, being justified glorify you. The remnant is saved by the election of grace. But if by grace, then is it no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace. For to him that works, the reward shall not be reckoned according to grace, but according to debt. The Apostle says, Not according to grace, but according to debt. But you He crowns with pity and mercy; and if your own merits have gone before, God says to you, Examine well your merits, and you shall see that they are My gifts.

9. This then is the righteousness of God. As it is called, The Lord's salvation, not whereby the Lord is saved, but which He gives to them whom He saves; so too the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord is called the righteousness of God, not as that whereby the Lord is righteous, but whereby He justifies those whom of ungodly He makes righteous. But some, as the Jews in former times, both wish to be called Christians, and still ignorant of God's righteousness, desire to establish their own, even in our own times, in the times of open grace, the times of the full revelation of grace which before was hidden; in the times of grace now manifested in the floor, which once lay hid in the fleece. I see that a few have understood me, that more have not understood, whom I will by no means defraud by keeping silence. Gideon, one of the righteous men of old, asked for a sign from the Lord, and said, I pray, Lord, that this fleece which I put in the floor be bedewed, and that the floor be dry. And it was so; the fleece was bedewed, the whole floor was dry. In the morning he wrung out the fleece in a basin; forasmuch as to the humble is grace given; and in a basin, you know what the Lord did to His disciples. Again, he asked for another sign; O Lord, I would, says he, that the fleece be dry, the floor bedewed. And it was so. Call to mind the time of the Old Testament, grace was hidden in a cloud, as the rain in the fleece. Mark now the time of the New Testament, consider well the nation of the Jews, you will find it as a dry fleece; whereas the whole world, like that floor, is full of grace, not hidden, but manifested. Wherefore we are forced exceedingly to bewail our brethren, who strive not against hidden, but against open and manifested grace. There is allowance for the Jews. What shall we say of Christians? Wherefore are you enemies to the grace of Christ? Why rely ye on yourselves? Why unthankful? For why did Christ come? Was not nature here before? Was not nature here, which you only deceive by your excessive praise? Was not the Law here? But the Apostle says, If righteousness come by the Law, then Christ is dead in vain. What the Apostle says of the Law, that say we of nature to these men. If righteousness come by nature, then Christ is dead in vain.

10. What then was said of the Jews, the same altogether do we see in these men now. They have a zeal of God: I hear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. What is, not according to knowledge? For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and wishing to establish their own, they have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. My Brethren, share with me in my sorrow. When ye find such as these, do not hide them; be there no such misdirected mercy in you; by all means, when you find such, hide them not. Convince the gainsayers, and those who resist, bring to us. For already have two councils on this question been sent to the Apostolic see; and rescripts also have come from thence. The question has been brought to an issue; would that their error may sometime be brought to an issue too! Therefore do we advise that they may take heed, we teach that they may be instructed, we pray that they may be changed. Let us turn to the Lord, etc.

Sermon 82 on the New Testament

[CXXXII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, John 6:55 ,For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eats my flesh, etc.

1. As we heard when the Holy Gospel was being read, the Lord Jesus Christ exhorted us by the promise of eternal life to eat His Flesh and drink His Blood. You that heard these words, have not all as yet understood them. For those of you who have been baptized and the faithful do know what He meant. But those among you who are yet called Catechumens, or Hearers, could be hearers, when it was being read, could they be understanders too? Accordingly our discourse is directed to both. Let them who already eat the Flesh of the Lord and drink His Blood, think What it is they eat and drink, lest, as the Apostle says, They eat and drink judgment to themselves. But they who do not yet eat and drink, let them hasten when invited to such a Banquet. Throughout these days the teachers feed you. Christ daily feeds you, That His Table is ever ordered before you. What is the reason. O Hearers, that you see the Table, and come not to the Banquet? And perhaps, just now when the Gospel was being read, you said in your hearts, We are thinking what it is that He says, 'My Flesh is meat indeed, and My Blood is drink indeed.' How is the Flesh of the Lord eaten, and the Blood of the Lord drunk? We are thinking what He says. Who has closed it against you, that you do not know this? There is a veil over it; but if you will, the veil shall be taken away. Come to the profession, and you have resolved the difficulty. For what the Lord Jesus said, the faithful know well already. But you are called a Catechumen, art called a Hearer, and art deaf. For the ears of the booty you have open, seeing that you hear the words which were spoken; but the ears of the heart you have still closed, seeing you understand not what was spoken. I plead, I do not discuss it. Lo, Easter is at hand, give in your name for baptism. If the festivity arouse you not, let the very curiosity induce you: that you may know the meaning of, Whoever eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood dwells in Me, and I in him. That you may know with me what is meant, Knock, and it shall be opened unto you: and as I say to you, Knock, and it shall be opened unto you, so do I too knock, open to me. When I speak aloud to the ears, I knock at the breast.

2. But if the Catechumens, my Brethren, are to be exhorted not to delay to approach to this so great grace of regeneration; what great care ought we to have in building up the faithful, that their approaching may profit them, and that they eat and drink not such a Banquet unto their own judgment? Now that they may not eat and drink unto judgment, let them live well. Be exhorters, not by words, but by your conduct; that they who have not been baptized, may in such wise hasten to follow you, that they perish not by imitating you. You who are married, keep the fidelity of the marriage-bed with your wives. Render what you require. As a husband you require chastity from your wife; give her an example, not words. You are the head, look where you go. For you ought to go where it may not be dangerous for her to follow: yea, you ought to walk yourself where you would have her follow. You require strength from the weaker sex; the lust of the flesh you have both of you: let him that is the stronger, be the first to conquer. And yet, which is to be lamented, many men are conquered by the women. Women preserve chastity, which men will not preserve; and in that they preserve it not, would wish to appear men: as though he was in sex the stronger, only that the enemy might more easily subdue him. There is a struggle, a war, a combat. The man is stronger than the woman, the man is the head of the woman. The woman combats and overcomes; do you succumb to the enemy? The body stands firm, and does the head lie low? But those of you who have not yet wives, and who yet already approach to the Lord's Table, and eat the Flesh of Christ, and drink His Blood, if you are about to marry, keep yourselves for your wives. As ye would have them come to you, such ought they also to find you. What young man is there who would not wish to marry a chaste wife? And if he were to espouse a virgin who would not desire she should be unpolluted? You look for one unpolluted, be unpolluted yourself. You look for one pure, be not yourself impure. For it is not that she is able, and you are not able. If it were not possible, then could not she be so. But, seeing that she can, let this teach you, that it is possible. And that she may have this power, God is her ruler. But you will have greater glory if you shall do it. Why greater glory? The vigilance of parents is a check to her, the very modesty of the weaker sex is a bridle to her; lastly, she is in fear of the laws of which you are not afraid. Therefore it is then that you will have greater glory if you shall do it; because if you do it, you fear God. She has many things to fear besides God, you fear God alone. But He whom you fear is greater than all. He is to be feared in public, He in secret. You go out, you are seen; you go in, you are seen; the lamp is lighted, He sees you; the lamp is extinguished, He sees you; you enter into your closet, He sees you; in the retirement of your own heart, He sees you. Fear Him, Him whose care it is to see you; and even by this fear be chaste. Or if you will sin, seek for some place where He may not see you, and do what you would.

3. But ye who have taken the vow already, chasten your bodies more strictly, and suffer not yourselves to loosen the reins of concupiscence even after those things which are permitted; that you may not only turn away from an unlawful connection, but may despise even a lawful look. Remember, in whichever sex you are, whether men or women, that you are leading on earth the life of Angels: For the Angels are neither given in marriage, nor marry. This shall we be, when we shall have risen again. How much better are you, who before death begin to be what men will be after the resurrection! Keep your proper degrees, for God keeps for you your honours. The resurrection of the dead is compared to the stars that are set in heaven. For star differs from star in glory, as the Apostle says; so also is the resurrection of the dead. For after one manner virginity shall shine there, after another shall wedded chastity shine there, after another shall holy widowhood shine there. They shall shine diversely, but all shall be there. The brilliancy unequal, the heaven the same.

4. With your thoughts then on your degrees, and keeping your professions, approach ye to the Flesh of the Lord, approach to the Blood of the Lord. Whoever knows himself to be otherwise, let him not approach. Be moved to compunction rather by my words. For they who know that they are keeping for their wives, what from their wives they require, they who know that they are in every way keeping continence, if this they have vowed to God, feel joy at my words; but they who hear me say, Whosoever of you are not keeping chastity, approach not to that Bread, are saddened. And I should have no wish to say this; but what can I do? Shall I fear man, so as to suppress the truth? What, if those servants do not fear the Lord, shall I therefore too not fear? As if I do not know that it is said, 'You wicked and slothful servant,' you should dispense, and I require. Lo, I have dispensed, O Lord my God; lo, in Your Sight, and in the sight of Your Holy Angels, and of this Your people, I have laid out Your money; for I am afraid of Your judgment. I have dispensed, do Thou require. Though I should not say it, You would do it. Therefore I rather say, I have dispensed, do Thou convert, do Thou spare. Make them chaste who have been unchaste, that in Your Sight we may rejoice together when the judgment shall come, both he who has dispensed and he to whom it has been dispensed. Does this please you? May it do so! Whosoever of you are unchaste, amend yourselves, while you are alive. For I have power to speak the word of God, but to deliver the unchaste, who persevere in wickedness, from the judgment and condemnation of God, have I no power.

Sermon 83 on the New Testament

[CXXXIII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel of John 7:6 , etc., where Jesus said that He was not going up unto the feast, and notwithstanding went up.

1. I Purpose by the Lord's assistance to treat of this section of the Gospel which has just been read; nor is there a little difficulty here, lest the truth be endangered, and falsehood glory. Not that either the truth can perish, nor falsehood triumph. Now hearken for a while what difficulty this lesson has; and being made attentive by the propounding of the difficulty, pray that I may be sufficient for its solution. The Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand; these it seems are the days which they observe even to this day, when they build huts. For this solemnity of theirs is called from the building of tabernacles; since σκηνὴ means a tabernacle, σκηνοπηγία is the building of a tabernacle. These days were kept as feast days among the Jews; and it was called one feast day, not because it was over in one day, but because it was kept up by a continued festivity; just as the feast day of the Passover, and the feast day of unleavened bread, and notwithstanding, as is manifest, that feast is kept throughout many days. This anniversary then was at hand in Judæa, the Lord Jesus was in Galilee, where He had also been brought up, where too He had relations and kinsfolk, whom Scripture calls His brethren. His brethren, therefore, as we have heard it read, said to Him, Pass from hence, and go into Judæa; that Your disciples also may see Your works that You do. For no man does anything in secret, and himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, manifest Yourself to the world. Then the Evangelist subjoins, For neither did His brethren believe in Him. If then they did not believe in Him, the words they threw out were of envy. Jesus answered them, My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you; but Me it hates, because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil. Go up to this feast day. I go not up to this feast day, for My time is not yet accomplished. Then follows the Evangelist; When He had said these words, He Himself stayed in Galilee. But when His brethren had gone up, then went He also up to the feast day, not openly, but as it were in secret. Thus far is the extent of the difficulty, all the rest is clear.

2. What then is the difficulty? What makes the perplexity? What is in peril? Lest the Lord, yea, to speak more plainly, lest the Truth Itself should be thought to have lied. For if we would have it thought that He lied, the weak will receive an authority for lying. We have heard say that He lied. For those who think that He lied, speak thus, He said that He should not go up to the feast day, and He went up. In the first place then, let us, as far as in the press of time we can, see whether he does lie, who says a thing and does it not. For example, I have told a friend, I will see you tomorrow; some greater necessity occurs to hinder me; I have not on that account spoken falsely. For when I made the promise, I meant what I said. But when some greater matter occurred, which hindered the accomplishment of my promise, I had no design to lie, but I was not able to fulfil the promise. Lo, to my thinking I have used no labour to persuade you, but have merely suggested to your good sense, that he who promises something, and does it not, does not lie, if, that he do it not, something has occurred to hinder the fulfilment of his promise, not to be any proof of falsehood.

3. But some one who hears me will say, Can you then say this of Christ, that He either was not able to fulfil what He would, or that He did not know things to come? You do well, good is your suggestion, right your hint; but, O man, share with me my anxiety. Dare we to say that He lies, Who we do not dare to say is weak in power? I for my part, to the best of my thinking, as far as according to my infirmity I am able to judge, would choose that a man should be deceived in any matter rather than lie in any. For to be deceived is the portion of infirmity, to lie of iniquity. You hate, O Lord, says he, all them that work iniquity. And immediately after, You shall destroy all them that speak a lie. Either iniquity and a lie are upon a level; or, You shall destroy, is more than You hate. For he who is held in hatred, is not immediately punished by destruction. But let that question be, whether there be ever a necessity to lie; for I am not now discussing that; it is a dark question, and has many lappings; I have not time to cut them, and to come to the quick. Therefore let the treatment of it be deferred to some other time; for perhaps it will be cured by the Divine assistance without any words of mine. But attend and distinguish between what I have deferred, and what I wish to treat of today. Whether on any occasion one may lie, this difficult and most obscure question I defer. But whether Christ lied, whether the Truth spoke anything false, this, being reminded of it by the Gospel lesson, have I undertaken today.

4. Now what the difference is between being deceived, and lying, I will briefly state. He is deceived who thinks what he says to be true, and therefore says it, because he thinks it true. Now if this which he that is deceived says, were true, he would not be deceived; if it were not only true, but he also knew it to be true, he would not lie. He is deceived then, in that it is false, and he thinks it true; but he only says it because he thinks it true. The error lies in human infirmity, not in the soundness of the conscience. But whosoever thinks it to be false, and asserts it as true, he lies. See, my Brethren, draw the distinction, you who have been brought up in the Church, instructed in the Lord's Scriptures, not uninformed, nor simple, nor ignorant men. For there are among you men learned and erudite, and not indifferently instructed in all kinds of literature; and with those of you who have not learned that literature which is called liberal, it is more that you have been nourished up in the word of God. If I labour in explaining what I mean, do ye aid me both by the attention of your hearing, and the thoughtfulness of your meditations. Nor will you aid, unless you are aided. Wherefore pray we mutually for one another, and look equally for our common Succour. He is deceived, who whereas what he says is false, thinks it to be true; but he lies, who thinks a thing to be false, and gives it out as true, whether it be true or false. Observe what I have added, whether it be true or false; yet he who thinks it to be false, and asserts it as true, lies; he aims to deceive. For what good is it to him, that it is true? He all the while thinks it false, and says it as if it were true. What he says is true in itself, it is in itself true; with regard to him it is false, his conscience does not hold that which he is saying; he thinks in himself one thing to be true, he gives out another for truth. His is a double heart, not single; he does not bring out that which he has in it. The double heart has long since been condemned. With deceitful lips in a heart and a heart have they spoken evil things. Had it been enough to say, in the heart have they spoken evil things, where is the deceitful lips? What is deceit? When one thing is done, another pretended. Deceitful lips are not a single heart; and because not a single heart, therefore in a heart and a heart; therefore in a heart twice, because the heart is double.

5. How then think we of the Lord Jesus Christ, that He lied? If it is a less evil to be deceived than to lie, dare we to say that He lies who we dare not to say is deceived? But He is neither deceived, nor does He lie; but in very deed as it is written (for of Him is it understood, of Him ought it to be understood), Nothing false is said to the King, and nothing false shall proceed out of His mouth. If by King here he meant any man, let us prefer Christ the King, to a man-king. But if, which is the truer understanding of it, it is Christ of whom he spoke, if I say, as is the truer understanding of it, it is Christ of whom he spoke (for to Him indeed nothing false is said, in that He is not deceived; from His Mouth nothing false proceeds, in that He does not lie); let us look how we are to understand the section of the Gospel, and let us not make the pitfall of a lie, as it were, on heavenly authority. But it is most absurd to be seeking to explain the truth, and to prepare a place for a lie. What are you teaching me, I ask you, who art explaining this text to me, what would you teach me? I do not know whether you would dare to say, Falsehood. For if you should dare to say this, I turn away mine ears, and fasten them up with thorns, that if you should try to force your way, I might through their very pricking make away without the explanation of the Gospel. Tell me what you would wish to teach me, and you have resolved the difficulty. Tell me, I pray you; lo, here I am; mine ears are open, my heart is ready, teach me. But I ask, what? I will not travel through many things. What are you going to teach me? Whatsoever learning you are about to bring forward, whatsoever strength to show in disputation, tell me this one thing only, one of two things I ask; are you going to teach me truth or falsehood? What do we suppose he will answer lest one depart; lest while he is open-mouthed and making an effort to bring out his words, I immediately leave him: what will he promise but truth? I am listening, standing, expecting, most earnestly expecting. See here, he who promised that he will teach me truth, insinuates falsehood concerning Christ. How then shall he teach truth, who would say that Christ is false? If Christ is false, can I hope that you will tell me the truth?

6. Consider again. What does he say? Hath Christ spoken falsely? Where, I ask you? Where He says, 'I go not up to the feast day;' and went up. For my part, I should wish thoroughly to examine this place, if so be we may see that Christ did not speak falsely. Yea rather, seeing that I have no doubt that Christ did not speak falsely, I will either thoroughly examine this passage and understand it, or, not understanding it, I will defer it. Yet that Christ spoke falsely will I never say. Grant that I have not understood it; I will depart in my ignorance. For better is it with piety to be ignorant, than with madness to pronounce judgment. Notwithstanding we are trying to examine, if so be by His assistance, who is the Truth, we may find something, and be found something ourselves, and this something will not be in the Truth a lie. For if in searching I find a lie, I find not a something but a nothing. Let us then look where it is you say that Christ lied. He will say, In that He said, 'I go not up to this feast,' and went up. Whence do you know that He said so? What if I were to say, nay, not I, but any one, for God forbid that I should say it; what if another were to say, Christ did not say this; whereby do you refute him, whereby will you prove it? You would open the book, find the passage, point it out to the man, yea with great confidence force the book upon him if he resisted, Hold it, mark, read, it is the Gospel you have in your hands. But why, I ask you, why do you so rudely accost this feeble one? Do not be so eager; speak more composedly, more tranquilly. See, it is the Gospel I have in my hands; and what is there in it? He answers: The Gospel declares that Christ said what you deny. And will you believe that Christ said it, because the Gospel declares it? Decidedly for that reason, says he. I marvel exceedingly how you should say that Christ lies, and the Gospel does not lie. But lest haply when I speak of the Gospel, you should think of the book itself, and imagine the parchment and ink to be the Gospel, see what the Greek word means; Gospel is a good messenger, or a good message. The messenger then does not lie, and does He who sent him, lie? This messenger, the Evangelist to wit, to give his name also, this John who wrote this, did he lie concerning Christ, or say the truth? Choose which you will, I am ready to hear you on either side. If he spoke falsely, you have no means of proving that Christ spoke those words. If he said the truth, truth cannot flow from the fountain of falsehood. Who is the Fountain? Christ: let John be the stream. The stream comes to me, and you say to me, Drink securely; yea, whereas you alarm me as to the Fountain Himself, whereas you tell me there is falsehood in the Fountain, you say to me, Drink securely. What do I drink? What said John, that Christ spoke falsely? Whence came John? From Christ. Is he who came from Him, to tell me truth, when He from whom he came lied? I have read in the Gospel plainly, John lay on the Lord's Breast; but I conclude that he drank in truth. What saw he as he lay on the Lord's Breast? What drank he in? What, but that which he poured forth? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made. That which was made in Him was life, and the Life was the Light of men; And the Light shines in darkness, and the darkness comprehended It not; nevertheless It shines, and though I chance to have some obscurity, and cannot thoroughly comprehend It, still It shines. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John; he came to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not the Light: who? John: who? John the Baptist. For of him says John the Evangelist, He was not the Light; of whom the Lord says, He was a burning, and a shining lamp. But a lamp can be lighted, and extinguished. What then? Whence do you draw the distinction? Of what place are you enquiring? He to whom the lamp bore witness, was the True Light. Where John added, the True, there are you looking out for a lie. But hear still the same Evangelist John pouring forth what he had drunk in; And we beheld, says he, His glory. What did he behold? What glory beheld he? The glory as of the Only-Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. See then, see, if we ought not haply to restrain weak or rash disputings, and to presume nothing false of the truth, to give to the Lord what is His due; let us give glory to the Fountain, that we may fill ourselves securely. Now God is true, but every man a liar. What is this? God is full; every man is empty; if he will be filled, let him come to Him That is full. Come unto Him, and be enlightened. Moreover, if man is empty, in that he is a liar, and he seeks to be filled, and with haste and eagerness runs to the fountain, he wishes to be filled, he is empty. But youK2say, Beware of the fountain, there is falsehood there. What else do you say, but there is poison there?

7. You have already, he says, said all, already have you checked, already chastened me. But tell me how He did not speak falsely who said, 'I go not up,' and went up? I will tell you, if I can; but think it no little matter, that if I have not established you in the truth, I have yet kept you back from rashness. I will nevertheless tell you, what I imagine you know even already, if you remember the words which I have set forth to you. The words themselves solve the difficulty. That feast was kept for many days. On this, that is this present feast day, says He, this day, that is when they hoped, He went not up; but when He Himself resolved to go. Now mark what follows, When He had said these words, He Himself stayed in Galilee. So then He did not go up on that feast day. For His brethren wished that He should go first; therefore had they said, Pass from hence into Judæa. They did not say, Let us pass, as though they would be His companions; or, Follow us into Judæa, as though they would go first; but as though they would send Him before them. He wished that they should go before; He avoided this snare, impressing His infirmity as Man, hiding the Divinity; this He avoided, as when He fled into Egypt. For this was no effect of want of power, but even of truth, that He might give an example of caution; that no servant of His might say, I do not fly, because it is disgraceful; when haply it might be expedient to fly. As He was going to say to His disciples, When they have persecuted you in this city, flee ye into another; He gave them Himself this example. For He was apprehended, when He willed; He was born, when He willed. That they might not anticipate Him then, and announce that He was coming, and plots be prepared; He said, I go not up to this feast day. He said, I go not up, that He might be hid; He added this, that He might not lie. Something He expressed, something He suppressed, something He repressed; yet said He nothing false, for nothing false proceeds out of His Mouth. Finally, after He had said these words, When His brethren had gone up; the Gospel declares it, attend, read what you have objected to me; see if the passage itself do not solve the difficulty, see if I have taken from anywhere else what to say. This then the Lord was waiting for, that they should go up first, that they might not announce beforehand that He was coming, When His brethren had gone up, then went He also up to the feast day, not openly, but as it were in secret. What is, as it were in secret? He acts there as if in secret. What is, as it were in secret? Because neither was this really in secret. For He did not really make an effort to be concealed, who had it in His Own power when He would be taken. But in that concealment, as I have said, He gave His weak disciples, who had not the power to prevent being taken when they would not, an example of being on their guard against the snares of enemies. For He went up afterwards even openly, and taught them in the temple; and some said, ' Lo, this is He; lo, He is teaching.' Certainly our rulers said that they wished to apprehend Him: 'Lo, He speaks openly, and no one lays hands on Him.'

8. But now if we turn our attention to ourselves, if we think of His Body, how that we are even He. For if we were not He, Forasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of Mine, you have done it unto Me, would not be true. If we were not He, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? would not be true. So then we are He, in that we are His members, in that we are His Body, in that He is our Head, in that Whole Christ is both Head and Body. Peradventure then He foresaw us that we were not to keep the feast days of the Jews, and this is, I go not up to this feast day. See neither Christ nor the Evangelist lied; of the which two if one must needs choose one, the Evangelist would pardon me, I would by no means put him that is true before the Truth Himself; I would not prefer him that was sent to Him by whom he was sent. But God be thanked, in my judgment what was obscure has been laid open. Your piety will aid me before God. Behold, I have, as I was best able, resolved the question, both concerning Christ and the Evangelist. Hold fast the truth with me as men who love it, embrace charity without contention.

Sermon 84 on the New Testament

[CXXXIV. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, John 8:31 , If you abide in my word, then are you truly my disciples, etc.

1. You know well, Beloved, that we all have One Master, and are fellow disciples under Him. Nor are we your masters, because we speak to you from this higher spot; but He is the Master of all, who dwells in us all. He just now spoke to us all in the Gospel, and said to us, what I also am saying to you; but He says it of us, as well of us as of you. If you shall continue in My word, not of course in my word who am now speaking to you; but in His who spoke just now out of the Gospel. If you shall continue in My word, says He, you are My disciples indeed. To be a disciple, it is not enough to come, but to continue. He does not therefore say, If you shall hear My word; or, If you shall come to My word; or, If you shall praise My word; but observe what He said, If you shall continue in My word, you are My disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall free you. What shall we say, Brethren? To continue in the word of God, is it toilsome, or is it not? If it be toilsome, look at the great reward; if it be not toilsome, you receive the reward for nought. Continue we then in Him who continues in us. We, if we continue not in Him, fall; but He if He continue not in us, has not on that account lost an habitation. For He skills to continue in Himself, who never leaves Himself. But for man, God forbid that he should continue in himself who has lost himself. So then we continue in Him through indigence; He continues in us through mercy.

2. Now then seeing it has been set forth what we ought to do, let us see what we are to receive. For He has appointed a work, and promised a reward. What is the work? If you shall continue in Me. A short work; short in description, great in execution. If you shall build on the Rock. O how great a thing is this, Brethren, to build on the Rock, how great is it! The floods came, the winds blew, the rain descended, and beat upon that house, and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock. What then is to continue in the word of God, but not to yield to any temptations? The reward, what is it? You shall know the truth, and the truth shall free you. Bear with me, for you perceive that my voice is feeble; assist me by your calm attention. Glorious reward! You shall know the truth. Here one may haply say, And what does it profit me to know the truth? And the truth shall free you. If the truth have no charms for you, let freedom have its charms. In the usage of the Latin tongue, the expression, to be free, is used in two senses; and chiefly we are accustomed to hear this word in this sense, that whosoever is free may be understood to escape some danger, to be rid of some embarrassment. But the proper signification of to be free, is to be made free; just as to be saved, is to be made safe; to be healed, is, to be made whole; so to be freed, is to be made free. Therefore I said, If the truth have no charms for you, let freedom have its charms. This is expressed more evidently in the Greek language, nor can it be there understood in any other sense. And that you may know that in no other sense can it be understood; when the Lord spoke, the Jews answered, We were never in bondage to any man; how do you say the Truth shall free you? That is, the Truth shall make you free, how do you say to us, who were never in bondage to any man? How, say they, do You promise them freedom, who as You see never bare the hard yoke of bondage?

3. They heard what they ought; but they did not what they ought. What did they hear? Because I said, The truth shall free you; ye turned your thoughts upon yourselves, that you are not in bondage to man, and you said, We were never in bondage to any man. Every one, Jew and Greek, rich and poor, the man in authority and private station, the emperor and the beggar, Every one that commits sin is the servant of sin. Every one, says He, that commits sin is the servant of sin. If men but acknowledge their bondage, they will see from whence they may obtain freedom. Some free-born man has been taken captive by the barbarians, from a free man is made a slave; another hears, and pities him, considers how that he has money, becomes his ransomer, goes to the barbarians, gives money, ransoms the man. And he has indeed restored freedom, if he have taken away iniquity. But what man has ever taken away iniquity from another man? He who was in bondage with the barbarians, has been redeemed by his ransomer; and great difference there is between the ransomer and the ransomed; yet haply are they fellow-slaves under the lordship of iniquity. I ask him that was ransomed, Have you sin? I have, he says. I ask the ransomer, Have you sin? I have, he says. So then neither do you boast yourself that you have been ransomed, nor you uplift yourself that you are his ransomer; but fly both of you to the True Deliverer. It is but a small part of it, that they who are under sin, are called servants; they are even called dead; what a man is afraid of captivity bringing upon him, iniquity has brought on him already. For what? Because they seem to be alive, was He then mistaken who said, Let the dead bury their dead? So then all under sin are dead, dead servants, dead in their service, servants in their death.

4. Who then frees from death and from bondage, save He, who is Free among the dead? Who is Free among the dead, save He who among sinners is without sin? Lo, the prince of the world comes, says our Redeemer Himself, our Deliverer, Lo, the prince of the world comes, and shall find nothing in Me. He holds fast those whom he has deceived, whom he has seduced, whom he has persuaded to sin and death; in Me shall he find nothing. Come, Lord, Redeemer come, come; let the captive acknowledge you, him that leads captive flee you; be my Deliverer. Lost as I was, He has found me in Whom the devil finds nothing that comes of the flesh. The prince of this world finds in Him Flesh, he finds it but what kind of Flesh? A mortal Flesh, which he can seize, which he can crucify, which he can kill. You are mistaken, O deceiver, the Redeemer is not deceived; you are mistaken. You see in the Lord a mortal Flesh, it is not flesh of sin, it is the likeness of flesh of sin. For God sent His Son in the likeness of flesh of sin. True Flesh, mortal Flesh; but not flesh of sin. For God sent His Son in the likeness of flesh of sin, that by sin He might condemn sin in the Flesh. For God sent His Son in the likeness of flesh of sin; in Flesh, but not in flesh of sin; but in the likeness of flesh of sin. For what purpose? That by sin, of which assuredly there was none in Him, He might condemn sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

5. If then it was the likeness of flesh of sin, not flesh of sin, how, That by sin He might condemn sin in the flesh? So a likeness is wont to receive the name of that thing of which it is a likeness. The word man is used for a real man; but if you show a man painted on the wall, and enquire what it is, it is answered, A man. So then Flesh having the likeness of flesh of sin, that it might be a sacrifice for sin, is called sin. The same Apostle says in another place, He made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin. Him who knew no sin: Who is He who knew no sin, but He That said, Behold the prince of the world comes, and shall find nothing in me? Him who knew no sin, made He sin for us; even Christ Himself, who knew no sin, God made sin for us. What does this mean, Brethren? If it were said, He made sin upon Him, or, He made Him to have sin; it would seem intolerable; how do we tolerate what is said, He made Him sin, that Christ Himself should be sin? They who are acquainted with the Scriptures of the Old Testament recognise what I am saying. For it is not an expression once used, but repeatedly, very constantly, sacrifices for sins are called sins. A goat, for instance, was offered for sin, a ram, anything; the victim itself which was offered for sin was called sin. A sacrifice for sin then was called sin; so that in one place the Law says, That the Priests are to lay their hands upon the sin. Him then, who knew no sin, He made sin for us; that is, He was made a sacrifice for sin. Sin was offered, and sin was cancelled. The Blood of the Redeemer was shed, and the debtor's bond was cancelled. This is the Blood, That was shed for many for the remission of sins.

6. What means this then your senseless exultation, O you that held me captive, for that my Deliverer had mortal Flesh? See, if He had sin; if you have found anything of yours in Him, hold Him fast. The Word was made Flesh. The Word is the Creator, the Flesh His creature. What is there here of yours, O enemy? And the Word is God, and His Human Soul is His creature, and His Human Flesh His creature, and the Mortal Flesh of God is His creature. Seek for sin here. But what are you seeking? The Truth says, The prince of this world shall come, and shall find nothing in Me. He did not therefore not find Flesh, but nothing of his own, that is, no sin. You deceived the innocent, you made them guilty. You slew the Innocent; you destroyed Him from whom you had nothing due, render back what you held fast. Why then did you exult for a short hour, because you found in Christ mortal Flesh? It was your trap: whereupon you rejoiced, thereby have you been taken. Wherein you exulted that you had found something, therein you sorrow now that you have lost what you possessed. Therefore, brethren, let us who believe in Christ, continue in His word. For if we shall continue in His word, we are His disciples indeed. For not those twelve only, but all we who continue in His word are His disciples indeed. And we shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall free us; that is, Christ the Son of God who has said, I am the Truth, shall make you free, that is, shall free you, not from barbarians, but from the devil; not from the captivity of the body, but from the iniquity of the soul. It is He Only who frees in such wise. Let no one call himself free, lest he remain a slave. Our soul shall not remain in bondage, for that day by day our debts are forgiven.

Sermon 85 on the New Testament

[CXXXV. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, John 9:4 and 31 , We must work the works of him that sent me, etc. Against the Arians. And of that which the man who was born blind and received his sight said, We know that God hears not sinners.

1. The Lord Jesus, as we heard when the Holy Gospel was being read, opened the eyes of a man who was born blind. Brethren, if we consider our hereditary punishment, the whole world is blind. And therefore came Christ the Enlightener, because the devil had been the Blinder. He made all men to be born blind, who seduced the first man. Let them run to the Enlightener, let them run, believe, receive the clay made of the spittle. The Word is as it were the spittle, the Flesh is the earth. Let them wash the face in the pool of Siloa. Now it was the Evangelist's place to explain to us what Siloa means, and he said, which is by interpretation, Sent. Who is This That is Sent, but He who in this very Lesson said, I have come to do the works of Him That sent Me. Lo, Siloa, wash the face, be baptized, that you may be enlightened, and that you who before saw not, may see.

2. Lo, first open your eyes to that which is said; I have come, says He, to do the works of Him That sent Me. Now here at once stands forth the Arian, and says, Here you see that Christ did not His Own works, but the Father's who sent Him. Would he say this, if he saw, that is, if he had washed his face in Him who was sent, as it were in Siloa? What then do you say? Lo, says he, Himself said it. What said He? I have come to do the works of Him That sent Me. Are they not then His Own? No. What then is that which the Siloa Himself says, the Sent Himself, the Son Himself, the Only Son Himself, whom you complain of as degenerate? What is that He says, All things that the Father has are Mine. You say that He did the works of Another, in that He said, I must do the works of Him That sent Me. I say that the Father had the things of another: I am speaking according to your principles. Why would you object to me that Christ said, I have come to do His works as if, not My own but 'His That sent Me'?

3. I ask You, O Lord Christ, resolve the difficulty, put an end to the contention. All things, says He, that the Father has are Mine. Are they then not the Father's, if they are Yours? For He does not say, All things that the Father has He has given unto Me; although, if He had said even this, He would have shown His equality. But the difficulty is that He said, All things that the Father has are Mine. If you understand it aright, All things that the Father has, are the Son's; all things that the Son has, are the Father's. Hear Him in another place; All Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine. The question is finished, as to the things which the Father and the Son have: they have them with one consent, do not you introduce dissension. What He calls the works of the Father, are His Own works; for, Yours too are Mine, for He speaks of the works of That Father, to whom He said, All Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine. So then, My works are Yours, and Your works are Mine. For whatever things the Father does; Himself has said, the Lord has said, the Only-Begotten has said, the Son has said, the Truth has said. What has He said? Whatever things the Father does, these also does the Son in like manner. Signal expression! signal truth! signal equality. All things that the Father does, these does the Son also. Were it enough to say, All things that the Father does, these does the Son also? It is not enough; I add, in like manner. Why do I add, in like manner? Because they who do not understand, and who walk with eyes not yet open, are wont to say, The Father does them by way of command, the Son of obedience, therefore not in like manner. But if in like manner, as the One, so the Other; so what things the One, the same the Other.

4. But, says he, the Father commands, that the Son may execute. Carnal indeed is your conceit, but without prejudice to the truth, I grant it to you. Lo, the Father commands, the Son obeys; is the Son therefore not of the same Nature, because the One commands, and the Other obeys? Give me two men, father and son; they are two men: he that commands is a man; he that obeys is a man; he that commands and he that obeys have one and the same nature. Does not he that commands, beget a son of his own nature? Does he who obeys, by obeying lose his nature? Now take for the present, as you thus take two men, the Father commanding, the Son obeying, yet God and God. But the first two together are two men, the Latter together is but One God; this is a divine miracle. Meanwhile if you would that with you I acknowledge the obedience, do you first with me acknowledge the Nature. The Father begot That which Himself is. If the Father begot ought else than what Himself is, He did not beget a true Son. The Father says to the Son, From the womb before the day-star, I begot You. What is, before the day-star? By the day-star times are signified. So then before times, before all that is called before; before all that is not, or before all that is. For the Gospel does not say, In the beginning God made the Word; as it is said, In the beginning God made the Heaven and the earth; or, In the beginning was the Word born; or, In the beginning God begot the Word. But what says it? He was, He was, He was. You hear, He was; believe. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So often do you hear, Was: seek not for time, for that He always was. He then who always was, and was always with the Son, for that God is able to beget without you; He said to the Son, From the womb before the day-star I begot You. What is from the womb? Had God a womb? Shall we imagine that God was fashioned with bodily members? God forbid! And why said He, From the womb, but that it might be understood that He begot Him of His Own Substance? So then from the womb came forth That which Himself was who begot. For if He who begot was one thing, and another came forth out of the womb; it were a monster, not a Son.

5. Therefore let the Son do the works of Him That sent Him, and the Father also do the works of the Son. At all events, you say, the Father wills, the Son executes. Lo, I show, that the Son wills, and the Father executes. Do you say, where do you show this? I show it at once. Father, I will. Now here if I had a mind to cavil, lo, the Son commands, and the Father executes. What will You? That where I am, they may be also with Me. We have escaped, there shall we be, where He is; there shall we be, we have escaped. Who can undo the I Will of the Almighty? You hear the will of His power, hear now the power of His will. As the Father says He raises up the dead and quickens them; even so the Son quickens whom He will. Whom He will. Say not, The Son quickens them, whom the Father commands Him to quicken. He quickens whom He will. So then whom the Father will, and whom Himself will: because where there is One Power, there is One Will. Let us then in a heart blind no more hold fast that the Nature of the Father and the Son is One and the Same; because the Father is very Father, the Son is very Son. What He is, That did He beget: because the Begotten was not degenerate.

6. There is a something in the words of that man who was blind, which may cause perplexity, and perhaps make many who understand them not aright despair. For he said among the rest of his words, the same man whose eyes were opened, We know that God hears not sinners. What shall we do, if God hears not sinners? Dare we pray to God if He hears not sinners? Give me one who may pray: lo, here is One to hear. Give me one who may pray, sift thoroughly the human race from the imperfect to the perfect. Mount up from the spring to the summer; for this we have just chanted. You have made summer and spring; that is, Those who are already spiritual, and those who are still carnal have You made; for so the Son Himself says, Your Eyes have seen My imperfect being. That which is imperfect in My Body, Your Eyes have seen. And what then? Have they who are imperfect hope? Undoubtedly they have. Hear what follows; And in Your Book shall all be written. But perhaps, Brethren, the spiritual pray and are heard, because they are not sinners? What then must the carnal do? What must they do? Shall they perish? Shall they not pray to God? God forbid! Give me that publican in the Gospel. Come, you publican, stand forth, show your hope, that the weak may not lose hope. For behold the publican went up with the Pharisee to pray, and with face cast down upon the ground, standing afar off, beating his breast, he said, Lord, be merciful to me a sinner. And he went down justified rather than the Pharisee. Said he true or false, who said, Be merciful to me a sinner? If he said true, he was a sinner; yet was he heard and justified. What then is that, that you whose eyes the Lord opened said, We know that God hears not sinners? Lo, God does hear sinners. But wash your inferior face, let that be done in your heart, which has been done in your face; and you will see that God does hear sinners. The imagination of your heart has deceived you. There is still something for Him to do to you. We see that this man was cast out of the synagogue; Jesus heard of it, came to him, and said to him, Do you believe in the Son of God? And He said, Who is He, Lord, that I should believe in Him? He saw, and did not see; he saw with the eyes, but as yet with the heart he saw not. The Lord said to him, You both see Him, that is, with the eyes; and He that talks with you is He. He then fell down, and worshipped Him. Then washed he the face of his heart.

7. Apply yourselves then earnestly to prayer, you sinners: confess your sins, pray that they may be blotted out, pray that they may be diminished, pray that as you increase, they may decrease: yet do not despair, and sinners though ye be, pray. For who has not sinned? Begin with the priests. To the priests it is said, First offer sacrifices for your own sins, and so for the people. The sacrifices convicted the priests that if any one should call himself righteous and without sin, it might be answered him, I look not at what you say, but at what you offer; your own victim convicts you. Wherefore do you offer for your own sins, if you have no sins? Do you in your sacrifice lie unto God? But perhaps the priests of the ancient people were sinners; of the new people are not sinners. Of a truth, Brethren, for that God has so willed, I am His priest; I am a sinner; with you do I beat the breast, with you I ask for pardon, with you I hope that God will be merciful. But perhaps the Holy Apostles, those first and highest leaders of the flock, shepherds, members of The Shepherd, these perhaps had no sin. Yes, indeed, even they had, they had indeed; they are not angry at this, for they confess it. I should not dare. First hear the Lord Himself saying to the Apostles, In this manner pray ye. As those other priests were convicted by the sacrifices, so these by prayer. And among the other things which He commanded them to pray for, He appointed this also, Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. What do the Apostles say? Every day they pray for their debts to be forgiven them. They come in debtors, they go out absolved, and return debtors to prayer. This life is not without sin, that as often as prayer is made, so often should sins be forgiven.

8. But what shall I say? Peradventure when they learned the prayer, they were still weak. Some one, perhaps, will say this. When the Lord Jesus taught them that prayer, they were yet babes, weak, carnal; they were not yet spiritual, who have no sin. What then, Brethren? When they became spiritual, did they cease to pray? Then Christ ought to have said, Pray in such wise now; and to have given them, when spiritual, another prayer. It is one and the same. He who gave it is One and the Same; use it then in prayer in the Church. But we will take away all controversy, when you say the Holy Apostles were spiritual, up to the time of the Lord's Passion they were carnal; this you must say. And indeed, the truth is, as He was hanging, they were in alarm, and the Apostles then despaired when the robber believed. Peter dared to follow, when the Lord was led to suffering, he dared to follow, who came to the house, and was wearied in the palace, and stood at the fire, and was cold; he stood at the fire, he was frozen with a chilling fear. Being questioned by the maid-servant, he denied Christ once; being questioned a second time, he denied Him; being questioned a third time, he denied Him. God be thanked, that the questioning ceased; if the questioning had not ceased, long would the denial have been repeated. So then after He rose again, then He confirmed them, then did they become spiritual. Had they at that time then no sin? The Apostles spiritual, wrote spiritual epistles, they sent them to the Churches; they had no sin. This you say. I do not believe you, I ask themselves. Tell us, O holy Apostles, after the Lord rose again, and confirmed you with the Holy Ghost sent from heaven; did ye cease to have sin? Tell us, I pray you. Let us hear, that sinners may not despair, that they may not leave off to pray to God, because they are not without sin. Tell us. One of them says. And who? He whom the Lord loved the most, and who lay on the Lord's Breast, and drank in the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven which he was to pour forth again. Him I ask; Have ye sin or not? He makes answer and says, If we shall say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Now it is the same John who said, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. See ye what heights he had passed, that he could reach to the Word! Such an one, and so great, who like an eagle soared above the clouds, who in the serene clearness of his mind saw, In the beginning was the Word; he has said, If we shall say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we shall confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Therefore pray ye.

Sermon 86 on the New Testament

[CXXXVI. Ben.]

On the same lesson of the Gospel, John 9 ., on the giving sight to the man that was born blind.

1. We have heard the lesson of the Holy Gospel which we are in the habit of hearing; but it is a good thing to be reminded: good to refresh the memory from the lethargy of forgetfulness. And in fact this very old lesson has given us as much pleasure as if it were new. Christ gave sight to one blind from his birth; why do we marvel? Christ is the Saviour; by an act of mercy He made up that which He had not given in the womb. Now when He gave that man no eyes, it was no mistake of His surely; but a delay with a view to a miracle. You are saying, it may be, Whence do you know this? From Himself I have heard it; He just now said it; we heard it all together. For when His disciples asked Him, and said, Lord, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? What answer He made, you heard, as did I. Neither has this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. Lo then wherefore it was that He delayed when He gave him no eyes. He did not give what He could give, He did not give what He knew He should give, when need was. Yet do not suppose, Brethren, that this man's parents had no sin, or that he himself had not, when he was born, contracted original sin, for the remission of which sin infants are baptized unto remission of sins. But that blindness was not because of his parents' sin, nor because of his own sin; but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. For we all when we were born contracted original sin: and yet we were not born blind. However enquire carefully, And we were born blind. For who was not born blind? Blind, that is, in heart. But the Lord Jesus, for that He had created both, cured both.

2. With the eyes of faith you have seen this man blind, you have seen him too of blind seeing; but you have heard him erring. Wherein this blind man erred, I will tell you; first, in that he thought Christ a prophet, and knew not that He was the Son of God. And then we have heard an answer of his entirely false; for he said, We know that God hears not sinners. If God hears not sinners, what hope have we? If God hears not sinners, why do we pray, and publish the record of our sin by the beating of the breast? Where again is that Publican, who went up with the Pharisee into the temple and while the Pharisee was boasting, parading his own merits, he standing afar off, and with his eyes fastened on the ground, and beating his breast, was confessing his sins? And this man, who confessed his sins, went down from the temple justified rather than the other Pharisee. Assuredly then God does hear sinners. But he who spoke these words had not yet washed the face of the heart in Siloa. The sacrament had gone before on his eyes; but in the heart had not been yet effected the blessing of the grace. When did this blind man wash the face of his heart? When the Lord admitted him into Himself after he had been cast out by the Jews. For He found him, and said to him as we have heard; Do you believe in the Son of God? And he, Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him? With the eyes, it is true, he saw already; did he see already in the heart? No, not yet. Wait; he will see presently. Jesus answered him, I that speak with you am He. Did he doubt? No, immediately he washed his face. For he was speaking with That Siloa, which is by interpretation, Sent. Who is the Sent, but Christ? Who often bore witness, saying, I do the will of My Father That sent Me. He then was Himself the Siloa. The man approached blind in heart, he heard, believed, adored; washed the face, saw.

3. But they who cast him out continued blind, forasmuch as they cavilled at the Lord, that it was the sabbath when He made clay of the spittle, and anointed the eyes of the blind man. For when the Lord cured with a word, the Jews openly cavilled. For He did no work on the sabbath day, when He spoke, and it was done. It was a manifest cavil; they cavilled at Him merely commanding, they cavilled at Him speaking; as if they did not themselves speak all the sabbath day. I might say that they do not speak not only on the sabbath, but on no day, forasmuch as they have kept back from the praises of the True God. Nevertheless, as I have said, brethren, it was a manifest cavil. The Lord said to a certain man, Stretch forth your hand; he was made whole, and they cavilled for that He healed on the sabbath day. What did He do? What work did He do? What burden did He bear? But in this instance, the spitting on the ground, the making clay, and anointing the man's eyes, is doing some work. Let no one doubt it, it was doing a work. The Lord did break the sabbath; but was not therefore guilty. What is that I have said, He broke the sabbath? He, the Light had come, He was removing the shadows. For the sabbath was enjoined by the Lord God, enjoined by Christ Himself, who was with the Father, when that Law was given; it was enjoined by Him, but in shadow of what was to come. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come. He had now come whose coming these things announced. Why do the shadows delight us? Open your eyes, you Jews; the Sun is present. We know. What do ye know, you blind in heart? What know ye? That this man is not of God, because he thus breaks the sabbath day. The sabbath, unhappy men, this very sabbath did Christ ordain, who you say is not of God. You observe the sabbath in a carnal manner, you have not the spittle of Christ. In this earth of the sabbath look also for the spittle of Christ, and you will understand that by the sabbath Christ was prophesied. But you, because you have not the spittle of Christ in the earth upon your eyes, you have not come unto Siloa, and have not washed the face, and have continued blind, blind to the good of this blind man, yea now no longer blind either in body or heart. He received clay with the spittle, his eyes were anointed, he came to Siloa, he washed his face, he believed on Christ, he saw, he continued not in that exceedingly fearful judgment; For judgment I came into this world, that they which see not may see, and that they which see may be made blind.

4. Exceeding alarm! That they which see not may see: Good. It is a Saviour's office, a profession of healing power, That they which see not may see. But what, Lord, is that You have added, That they which see may be made blind? If we understand, it is most true, most righteous. Yet what is, They which see? They are the Jews. Do they then see? According to their own words, they see; according to the truth, they do not see. What then is, they see? They think they see, they believe they see. For they believed they did see, when they maintained the Law against Christ. We know; therefore they see. What is We know, but we see? What is, this Man is not of God, because He thus breaks the sabbath day? They see; they read what the Law said. For it was enjoined that whosoever should break the sabbath day, should be stoned. Therefore said they that He was not of God; but though seeing, they were blind to this, that for judgment He came into the world who is to be the Judge of quick and dead; why came He? That they which see not may see: that they who confess that they do not see, may be enlightened. And that they which see may be made blind; that is, that they who confess not their own blindness, may be the more hardened. And, in fact, That they which see may be made blind, has been fulfilled; the defenders of the Law, Doctors of the Law, the teachers of the Law, the understanders of the Law, crucified the Author of the Law. O blindness, this is that which in part has happened to Israel. That Christ might be crucified, and the fullness of the Gentiles might come in, blindness in part has happened to Israel. What is, that they which see not may see? That the fullness of the Gentiles might come in, blindness in part has happened to Israel. The whole world lay in blindness; but He came, that they which see not may see, and that they which see may be made blind. He was disowned by the Jews, He was crucified by the Jews; of His Blood He made an eye-salve for the blind. They who boasted that they saw the light, being more hardened, being made blind, crucified the Light. What great blindness? They killed the Light, but the Light Crucified enlightened the blind.

5. Hear one seeing, who once was blind. Behold, against what a cross they have miserably stumbled, who would not confess their blindness to the Physician! The Law had continued with them. What serves the Law without grace? Unhappy men, what can the Law do without grace? What does the earth without the spittle of Christ? What does the Law without grace, but make them more guilty? Why? Because hearers of the Law and not doers, and hereby sinners, transgressors. The son of the hostess of the man of God was dead, and his staff was sent by his servant, and laid upon his face, but he did not revive. What does the Law without grace? What says the Apostle, now seeing, now of blind, enlightened? For if there had been a Law given which could give life, verily righteousness should have been by the Law. Take heed; let us answer and say; what is this that he has said? If there had been a Law given which could give life, verily righteousness should have been by the Law. If it could not give life, why was it given? He went on and added, But the Scripture has concluded all under sin, that the promise by the faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. That the promise of illumination, the promise of love by the faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe, that Scripture, that is the Law, has concluded all under sin. What is, has concluded all under sin? I had not known concupiscence, except the Law had said, You shall not lust. What is, has concluded all under sin? Hath made the sinner a transgressor also. For it could not heal the sinner. It has concluded all under sin; but with what hope? The hope of grace, the hope of mercy. You have received the Law: you wished to keep it, you were not able; you have fallen from pride, hast seen your weakness. Run to the Physician, wash the face. Long for Christ, confess Christ, believe in Christ; the Spirit is added to the letter, and you will be saved. For if you take away the Spirit from the letter, the letter kills; if it kill, where is hope? But the Spirit gives life.

6. Let then Gehazi, Elisha's servant, receive the staff, as Moses the servant of God received the Law. Let him receive the staff, receive it, run, go before, anticipate him, lay the staff upon the face of the dead child. And so it was; he did receive it, he ran, he laid the staff upon the face of the dead child. But to what purpose? What serves the staff? If there had been a Law given which could give life, the boy might have been raised to life by the staff; but seeing that the Scripture has concluded all under sin, he still lies dead. But why has it concluded all under sin? That the promise by the faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. Let then Elisha come, who sent the staff by the servant to prove that he was dead; let him come himself, come in his own person, himself enter into the woman's house, go up to the child, find him dead, conform himself to the members of the dead child, himself not dead, but living. For this he did; he laid his face upon his face, his eyes upon his eyes, his hands upon his hands, his feet upon his feet, he straitened, he contracted himself, being great, he made himself little. He contracted himself; so to say, he lessened himself. For being in the Form of God, He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant. What is He conformed Himself, alive to the dead? Do you ask, what this is? Hear the Apostle; God sent His Son. What is, he conformed himself to the dead? Let him tell this, let him go on and declare it again; In the likeness of flesh of sin. This is to conform Himself Alive to the dead; to come to us in the likeness of flesh of sin, not in the flesh of sin. Man lay dead in a flesh of sin, the likeness of flesh of sin conformed Himself to him. For He died who had not wherefore to die. He died, Alone Free among the dead; forasmuch as the whole flesh of men was indeed a flesh of sin. And how should it rise again, had not He who had no sin, conforming Himself to the dead, come in the likeness of flesh of sin? O Lord Jesus, who hast suffered for us, not for Yourself, who had no guilt, and endured its punishment, that you might dissolve at once the guilt and punishment.

Sermon 87 on the New Testament

[CXXXVII. Ben.]

The tenth chapter of the Gospel of John . Of the shepherd, and the hireling, and the thief.

1. Your faith, dearly beloved, is not ignorant, and I know that you have so learned by the teaching of that Master from heaven, in whom you have placed your hope, that our Lord Jesus Christ, who has now suffered for us and risen again, is the Head of the Church, and the Church is His Body, and that in His Body the unity of the members and the bond of charity is, as it were, its sound health. But whosoever grows cold in charity, has become enfeebled in the Body of Christ. But He who has already exalted our Head, is able also to make even the feeble members whole; provided, that is, that they be not cut off by excessive impiety, but adhere to the Body until they be made whole. For whatsoever yet adheres to the body, is not beyond hope of healing; whereas that which has been cut off, can neither be in process of curing, nor be healed. Since then He is the Head of the Church, and the Church is His Body, Whole Christ is both the Head and the Body. He has already risen again. We have therefore the Head in heaven. Our Head intercedes for us. Our Head without sin and without death, now propitiates God for our sins; that we too at the end rising again, and changed into heavenly glory, may follow our Head. For where the Head is, there are the rest of the members also. But while we are here, we are members; let us not despair, for we shall follow our Head.

2. For consider, Brethren, the love of this our Head. He is now in heaven, yet does He suffer here, as long as His Church suffers here. Here Christ is hungered, here He is thirsty, is naked, is a stranger, is sick, is in prison. For whatsoever His Body suffers here, He has said that Himself suffers; and at the end, severing off this His Body to the right hand, and severing the rest by whom He is now trodden under foot to the left, He will say to those on the right hand, Come, you blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the beginning of the world. For what deservings? For I was an hungred, and you gave Me meat; and so He goes over the rest, as if He had Himself received; to such a degree that they, not understanding it, make answer and say, Lord, when saw we You an hungred, a stranger, and in prison? And He says to them, Forasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of Mine, you have done it unto Me. So also in our own body, the head is above, the feet are on the earth; yet in any crowding and throng of men, when any one treads on your foot, does not the head say, You are treading upon me? No one has trodden on your head, or on your tongue; it is above, in safety, no harm has happened unto it; and yet because by the bond of charity there is unity from the head even to the feet, the tongue does not separate itself therefrom, but says, You are treading upon me; when no one has touched it. As then the tongue, which no one has touched, says, You are treading upon me; so Christ, the Head, which no one treads on, said, I was an hungred, and you gave Me meat. And to them who did not so, He said, I was an hungred, and you gave Me no meat. And how did He finish? Thus; These shall go into everlasting burning, but the righteous into life eternal.

3. When our Lord then was speaking on this occasion, He said, that He is the Shepherd, He said also that He is the Door. You find them both in that place, both I am the Door and I am the Shepherd. In the Head He is the Door, the Shepherd in the Body. For He says to Peter, in whom singly He forms the Church; Peter, do you love Me? He answered, Lord, I do love You. Feed My sheep. And a third time, Peter, do you love Me? Peter was grieved because He asked him the third time; as though He who saw the conscience of the denier, saw not the confessor's faith. He had known him always, had known him even when Peter had not known himself. For he did not know himself at that time when he said, I will be with You even unto death; and how infirm he was he knew not. Just as it constantly happens in fact to invalids, that the sick man knows not what is going on within him, but the physician knows; when yet the former is suffering from the very sickness, and the physician is not. The physician can better tell what is going on in another, than he who is sick what is going on in himself. Peter then was at that time the invalid, and the Lord the Physician. The former declared that he had strength, when he had not; but the Lord touching the pulse of his heart, declared that he should deny Him thrice. And so it came to pass, as the Physician foretold, not as the sick presumed. Therefore, after His resurrection the Lord questioned him, not as being ignorant with what a heart he would confess the love of Christ, but that he might by a threefold confession of love, efface the threefold denial of fear.

4. Therefore does the Lord require this of Peter, Peter, do you love Me? As though, What will you give Me, what will you do for Me, seeing that you love Me? What was Peter to do for his Lord risen again, and going into heaven, and sitting on the right hand of the Father? As if He had said, This shall you give Me, this shall you do for Me, if you love Me, feed My sheep; enter in by the Door, not go up by another way. You heard when the Gospel was being read, He that enters in by Door, is the shepherd; but he that goes up another way, is a thief and a robber; and he seeks to disperse, and to scatter, and to spoil. Who is he that enters in by the Door? He that enters in by Christ. Who is he? He who imitates the Passion of Christ, who acknowledges the Humility of Christ; that whereas God was made Man for us, man may acknowledge himself to be, not God, but man. For whoever wishes to appear God, when he is man, does not imitate Him, who, being God, was made Man. But to you it is not said, Be anything less than you are; but acknowledge what you are. Acknowledge yourself feeble, acknowledge yourself man, acknowledge yourself a sinner; acknowledge that it is He That justifies, acknowledge that you are full of stains. Let the stain of your heart appear in your confession, and you shall belong to Christ's flock. For the confession of sins invites the physician's healing; as in sickness, he that says, I am well, seeks not the physician. Did not the Pharisee and the Publican go up to the temple? The one boasted of his sound estate, the other showed his wounds to the Physician. For the Pharisee said, I thank You, O God, that I am not as this publican. He gloried over the other. So then if that publican had been whole, the Pharisee would have grudged it him; for that he would not have had any one over whom to extol himself. In what state then had he come, who had this envious spirit? Surely he was not whole; and whereas he called himself whole, he went not down cured. But the other casting his eyes down to the ground, and not daring to lift them up unto heaven, smote his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. And what says the Lord? Verily I say unto you, that the publican went down from the temple justified rather than the Pharisee. For every one that exalts himself shall be abased, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted. They then who exalt themselves, would go up into the sheepfold by another way; but they who humble themselves, enter in by the Door into the sheepfold. Therefore said He of the one, he enters in; of the other, he goes up. He that goes up, you see, who seeks exaltation, does not enter in, but falls. Whereas he that abases himself, that he may enter in by the Door, falls not, but is the shepherd.

5. But the Lord mentioned three characters, and our duty is to search them out in the Gospel, that of the shepherd, the hireling, and the thief. I suppose you took notice when the lesson was being read, that He marked out the shepherd, the hireling, and the thief. The Shepherd, said He, lays down His life for the sheep, and enters in by the door. The thief and the robber, said He, go up by another way. The hireling, He said, if he sees a wolf or even a thief, flees; because he cares not for the sheep; for he is an hireling, not a shepherd. The one enters in by the door, because he is the shepherd; the second goes up another way, because he is a thief; the third seeing them who wish to spoil the sheep fears and flees, because he is an hireling, because he cares not for the sheep; for he is an hireling. If we shall find these three characters, you have found, holy brethren, both those whom you should love, and those whom you should tolerate, and those of whom you must beware. The Shepherd is to be loved, the hireling is to be tolerated, of the robber must we beware. There are men in the Church of whom the Apostle speaks, who preach the Gospel by occasion, seeking of men their own advantage, whether of money, or of honour, or human praise. They preach the Gospel, wishing to receive rewards in whatsoever way they can, and seek not so much his salvation to whom they preach, as their own advantage. But he who hears the word of salvation from him who has not salvation, if he believe Him whom he preaches, and put not his hope in him, by whom salvation is preached to him; he that preaches shall have loss; he to whom he preaches shall have gain.

6. You have the Lord saying of the Pharisees, They sit in Moses' seat. The Lord did not mean them only; as if He would send those who should believe in Christ to the school of the Jews, that they might learn there wherein is the way to the kingdom of heaven. Did not the Lord come for this end, that He might establish a Church, and separate those Jews who had a good faith, and a good hope, and a good love, as wheat from the chaff, and might make them one wall of the circumcision, to which should be joined another wall from the uncircumcision of the Gentiles, of which two walls coming from different directions, Himself should be the Corner-Stone? Did not the same Lord therefore say of these two people who were to be one, And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold? Now He was speaking to the Jews; Them also, said He, must I bring, that there may be one fold, and One Shepherd. Therefore there were two ships out of which He had called His disciples. They figured these two people, when they let down their nets, and took up so great a draught and so large a number of fishes, that the nets were almost broken. And they laded, it is said, both the ships. The two ships figured the One Church, but made out of two peoples, joined together in Christ, though coming from different parts. Of this too the two wives, who had one husband Jacob, Leah and Rachel, are a figure. Of these two, the two blind men also are a figure, who sat by the way side, to whom the Lord gave sight. And if you pay attention to the Scriptures, you will find the two Churches, which are not two but One, figured out in many places. For to this end the Corner-Stone serves, for to make of two One. To this end serves That Shepherd, for to make of two flocks One. So then the Lord who was to teach the Church, and to have a school of His Own beyond the Jews, as we see at present, would He be likely to send those who believe in Him unto the Jews, to learn? But under the name of the Scribes and Pharisees He intimated that there would be some in His Church who would say and not do; but, in the person of Moses He designated Himself. For Moses represented Him, and for this reason did he put a veil before him, when he was speaking to the people; because as long as they were in the law given up to carnal joys and pleasures, and looking for an earthly kingdom, a veil was put upon their face, that they should not see Christ in the Scriptures. For when the veil was taken away, after that the Lord had suffered, the secrets of the temple were discovered. Accordingly when He was hanging on the Cross, the veil of the temple was rent from the top even to the bottom; and the Apostle Paul says expressly, But when you shall turn to Christ, the veil shall be taken away. Whereas with him who turns not to Christ, though he read the law of Moses, the veil is laid upon his heart, as the Apostle says. When the Lord then would signify beforehand that there would be some such in His Church, what did He say? The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. What they say, do; but do not what they do.

7. When wicked clerics hear this which is said against them, they would pervert it. For I have heard that some do wish to pervert this sentence. Would they not, if they might, efface it from the Gospel? But because they cannot efface it, they go about to pervert it. But the grace and mercy of the Lord is present, and allows them not to do so; for He has hedged round all His declarations with His truth, and in such wise balanced them; that if any one would wish to cut off anything from them, or to introduce anything by a bad reading or interpretation, any right hearted man may join to the Scripture what has been cut off from the Scripture, and read what went above or below, and he will find the sense which the other wished to interpret wrongly. What then, think ye, do they say of whom it is said, Do what they say? That it is (and in truth it is so) addressed to laymen. For what does the layman who wishes to live well say to himself, when he takes notice of a wicked cleric? The Lord said, 'What they say, do; what they do, do not.' Let me walk in the way of the Lord, not follow this man's conversation. Let me hear from him not his words, but God's. I will follow God, let him follow his own lust. For if I should wish to defend myself in such wise before God as to say, 'Lord, I saw that your cleric living evilly, and therefore I lived evilly;' would He not say to me, 'You wicked servant, had you not heard from Me, What they say, do, but what they do, do not?' But a wicked layman, an unbeliever, who belongs not to Christ's flock, who belongs not to Christ's wheat, who as chaff is only borne with in the floor, what does he say to himself when the word of God begins to reprove him? Away; why do you talk to me? The very Bishops and Clergy do not do it, and do you force me to do it? Thus he seeks for himself not a patron for his bad cause, but a companion for punishment. For will that wicked one whosoever he be that he has chosen to imitate, will he ever defend him in the day of judgment? For as with all whom the devil seduces, he seduces them not to be partakers of a kingdom, but of his damnation; so all who follow the wicked, seek companions for themselves to hell, not protection unto the kingdom of heaven.

8. How then do they pervert this declaration when it is said to them in their wicked lives, With good reason was it said by the Lord,'What they say, do; what they do, do not'? It was well said, say they. For it was said to you, that you should do what we say; but that you should not do what we do. For we offer sacrifice, you may not. See the cunning craftiness of these men; what shall I call them? Hirelings. For if they were shepherds, they would not say such things. Therefore the Lord, that He might shut their mouths, went on, and said, They sit in Moses' seat; what they say, do; but what they do, do not; for they say, and do not. What is it then, Brethren? If He had spoken of offering sacrifice; would He have said, For they say, and do not? For they do offer sacrifice, they do offer unto God. What is it that they say, and do not? Hear what follows; For they bind heavy burdens, and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders, and they themselves will not touch them with one of their fingers. So openly did He rebuke, describe, and point them out. But those men when they thus wish to pervert the passage, show plainly that they seek nothing in the Church but their own advantage; and that they have not read the Gospel; for had they known but this very page, and read the whole, they would never have dared to say this.

9. But attend to a more clear proof that the Church has such as these. Lest any one should say to us, He spoke entirely of the Pharisees, He spoke of the Scribes, He spoke of the Jews; for the Church has none such. Who then are they of whom the Lord says, Not every one that says unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven? And He added, Many shall say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your Name, and in Your Name done many mighty works, and in Your Name have eaten and drunken? What! Do the Jews do these things in Christ's name? Assuredly it is manifest, that He speaks of them who have the Name of Christ. But what follows? Then will I say to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, all you that work iniquity. Hear the Apostle sighing concerning such as these. He says that some preach the Gospel through charity, others by occasion; of whom he says, They do not preach the Gospel rightly. A right thing, but themselves not right. What they preach is right; but they who preach it are not right. Why is he not right? Because he seeks something else in the Church, seeks not God. If he sought God, he would be chaste; for the soul has in God her lawful husband. Whosoever seeks from God ought besides God, does not seek God chastely. Consider, Brethren; if a wife love her husband because he is rich, she is not chaste. For she loves not her husband, but her husband's gold. Whereas if she love her husband, she loves him both in nakedness and poverty. For if she love him because he is rich; what if (as human chances are) he be outlawed and all on a sudden be reduced to need? She gives him up, perhaps; because what she loved was not her husband, but his property. But if she love her husband indeed, she loves him even more when poor; for that she loves with pity too.

10. And yet, Brethren, our God never can be poor. He is rich, He made all things, heaven and earth, the sea and Angels. In the heaven, whatsoever we see, whatsoever we see not, He made it. But notwithstanding, we ought not to love these riches, but Him who made them. For He has promised you nothing but Himself. Find anything more precious, and He will give you this. Beauteous is the earth, the heaven, and the Angels; but more beauteous is He who made them. They then who preach God, as loving God; who preach God, for God's sake, feed the sheep, and are no hirelings. This chastity did our Lord Jesus Christ require of the soul, when He said to Peter, Peter, do you love Me? What is Do you love Me? Are you chaste? Is not your heart adulterous? Do you seek not your own things in the Church, but Mine? If then you be such an one, and lovest Me, feed My sheep. For you shall be no hireling, but you shall be a shepherd.

11. But they did not preach chastely, concerning whom the Apostle sighs. But what does he say? What then? Notwithstanding every way, whether by occasion or in truth, Christ is preached. He suffers then that hirelings there should be. The shepherd preaches Christ in truth, the hireling by occasion preaches Christ, seeking something else. Notwithstanding, both the one and the other preaches Christ. Hear the voice of the shepherd Paul; Whether by occasion or in truth, Christ is preached. Himself a shepherd, he was pleased to have the hireling. For they act where they are able, they are useful as far as they are able. But when the Apostle for other uses sought for those whose ways the weak ones might imitate; he says, I have sent unto you Timotheus, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways. And what does he say? I have sent unto you a shepherd, to bring you into remembrance of my ways; that is, who himself also walks as I walk. And in sending this shepherd, what does he say? For I have no one so likeminded, who with sincere affection is anxious for you. Were there not many with him? But what follows? For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's; that is, I have wished to send unto you a shepherd; for there are many hirelings; but it were not meet for an hireling to be sent. An hireling is sent for the transaction of other affairs and business; but for those which Paul then desired, a shepherd was necessary. And he scarcely found one shepherd among many hirelings; for the shepherds are few, the hirelings many. But what is said of the hirelings? Verily I say unto you, they have received their reward. Of the shepherd, what says the Apostle? But whosoever shall cleanse himself from such as these shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and useful to the Lord, prepared always unto every good work. Not unto certain things prepared, and unto certain not prepared, but unto every good work prepared. So much have I said, concerning the shepherds.

12. But we will now speak of the hirelings. The hireling when he sees the wolf lying in wait for the sheep, flees. This the Lord said. Why? Because he cares not for the sheep. So long then is the hireling of use, as he sees not the wolf coming, as he sees not the thief and the robber; but when he sees them, he flees. And who is there of the hirelings, who flees not from the Church, when he sees the wolf and the robber? And wolves and robbers abound. They are they who go up by another way. Who are these who go up? They who of Donatus' way wish to make havoc of Christ's sheep, they go up by another way. They do not enter in by Christ, because they are not humble. Because they are proud, they go up. What is, they go up? They are lifted up. Whereby do they go up? By another way: whence they wish to be named from their way. They who are not in unity are of another way, and by this way they go up, that is, are lifted up, and wish to spoil the sheep. Now mark how they go up. It is we, they say, who sanctify, we justify, we make righteous. See whither they have got up. But he that exalts himself, shall be abased. Our Lord God is able to abase them. Now the wolf is the devil, he lies in wait to deceive, and they that follow him; for it is said that they are clothed indeed with the skins of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. If the hireling observe anyone indulging in wicked talking, or in sentiments to the deadly hurt of his soul, or doing ought that is abominable and unclean, and notwithstanding that he seems to bear a character of some importance in the Church (from which if he hopes for advantage he is an hireling); says nothing, and when he sees the man perishing in his sin, sees the wolf following him, sees his throat dragged by his teeth to punishment; says not to him, You sin; does not chide him, lest he lose his own advantage. This I say is, When he sees the wolf, he flees; he does not say to him, You are doing wickedly. This is no flight of the body, but of the soul. He whom you see standing still in body flies in heart, when he sees a sinner, and does not say to him, You sin; yea when he even is in concert with him.

13. My Brethren, does ever either Presbyter or Bishop come up here, and say anything from this higher place, but that the property of others must not be plundered, that there must be no fraud committed, no wickedness done? They cannot say ought else who sit in Moses' seat, and it is it that speaks by them, not they themselves. What then is, Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? and, Every tree is known by his fruit? Can a Pharisee speak good things? A Pharisee is a thorn; how from a thorn do I gather grapes? Because You, Lord, have said, What they say, do; but what they do, do not. Do You bid me gather grapes of thorns when You say, Do men gather grapes of thorns? The Lord answers you, I have not bidden you gather grapes of thorns: but look, mark well, if haply, as is often the case, the vine when it trails all along upon the ground, be not entangled in thorns. For we sometimes find this, my Brethren, a vine planted over sedge, how it has there a thorny hedge, and throws out its branches, and entangles them in the thorny hedge, and the grape hangs among the thorns; and he that sees it plucks the grape, yet not from the thorns, but from the vine which is entangled in the thorns. In like manner then the Pharisees are thorny; but by sitting in Moses' seat, the vine wraps them round, and grapes, that is, good words, good precepts, hang from them. If you pick the grape, the thorn will not prick you, when you read, What they say, do; but what they do, do not. But the thorn will prick you, if you do what they do. So then that you may gather the grape, and not be caught in the thorns, What they say, do; but what they do, do not. Their deeds are the thorns, their words are the grapes, but from the vine, that is, from Moses' seat.

14. These then flee, when they see the wolf, when they see the robber. Now this it was that I had began to say, that from this higher place they can say nothing, but, Do well, do not forswear yourselves, defraud not, cheat not any. But sometimes men's lives are so bad, that counsel is asked of a Bishop on the taking away of another man's estate, and from him is such counsel sought. It has sometimes happened to ourselves, we speak from experience: for we should not have believed it. Many men require from us evil counsels, counsels of lying, of fraud; thinking that they please us thereby. But by the Name of Christ, if what we are saying is pleasing to the Lord, no such man has tempted us, and found what he wished in us. For with the good pleasure of Him who has called us, we are shepherds, not hirelings. But as says the Apostle, But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's day; yea, I judge not even my own self. For I am conscious of nothing by myself, but I am not hereby justified. But He That judges me is the Lord. My conscience is not therefore good, because you praise it. For how do you praise what you do not see? Let Him praise, who sees; yea let Him correct, if He sees ought there which offends His Eyes. For I too do not say that I am perfectly whole; but I beat my breast, and say to God, Be merciful, that I sin not. Yet I do think, for I speak in His Presence, that I seek nothing from you, but your salvation; and constantly do I groan over the sins of my brethren, and I suffer distress, and am tormented in mind, and often do I reprove them; yea, I never cease reproving them. All who remember what I say are witnesses, how often my brethren who sin have been reproved, and earnestly reproved, by me.

15. I am now treating of my counsel with you, holy Brethren. In Christ's Name you are the people of God, you are a Catholic people, you are members of Christ; you are not divided from unity. You are in communion with the members of the Apostles, you are in communion with the memories of the Holy Martyrs, who are spread over the whole world, and you belong to my cure, that I may render a good account of you. Now my whole account, what it is you know. Lord, You know that I have spoken, You know that I have not kept silence, You know in what spirit I have spoken, You know that I have wept before You, when I spoke, and was not heard. This I imagine is my whole account. For the Holy Spirit by the prophet Ezekiel has given me sure hope. You know this passage concerning the watchman; O son of man, says He, I have set you a watchman unto the house of Israel; if when I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, you shall die the death, you do not speak; that is (for I speak to you that you may speak), if you do not announce it, and the sword, that is, what I have threatened on the sinner, come, and take him away; that wicked man indeed shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. Why? Because he did not speak. But if the watchman see the sword coming, and blow the trumpet, that he may fly, and he took not to himself, that is, amend not himself, that it find him not in the punishment which God threatens, and the sword shall come and take any one away; that wicked man indeed shall die in his iniquity; but you, says He, hast delivered your own soul. And in that place of the Gospel, what else says He to the servant? When he said, Lord, I knew You to be a difficult or hard Man, in that Thou reapest where You have not sowed, and gatherest where You have not scattered; and I was afraid, and went and hid Your talent in the earth, lo, You have that is Yours. And He said, 'Thou wicked and slothful servant,' because you knew Me to be a difficult and hard Man, to reap where I have not sown, and to gather where I have not scattered, My very covetousness ought the more to teach you, that I look for profit from My money. 'You ought therefore to have given My money to the exchangers, and at My coming I should have required My own with usury.' Did He say, You ought to give, and require? It is we then, Brethren, who give, He will come to require. Pray ye, that He may find us prepared.

Sermon 88 on the New Testament

[CXXXVIII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, John 10:14 , I am the good shepherd, etc. Against the Donatists.

1. We have heard the Lord Jesus setting forth to us the office of a good shepherd. And herein He has doubtless given us to know, as we may understand it, that there are good shepherds. And yet that the multitude of shepherds might not be understood in a wrong sense; He says, I am the good Shepherd. And wherein He is the good Shepherd, He shows in the words following; The good Shepherd, says He, lays down His life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, sees the wolf coming, and flees; because he cares not for the sheep, for he is an hireling. Christ then is the good Shepherd. What was Peter? Was he not a good shepherd? Did not he too lay down his life for the sheep? What was Paul? What the rest of the Apostles? What the blessed Bishops, Martyrs, who followed close upon their times? What again our holy Cyprian? Were they not all good shepherds, not hirelings, of whom it is said, Verily I say unto you, they have received their reward? All these then were good shepherds, not simply for that they shed their blood, but that they shed it for the sheep. For not in pride, but in charity they shed it.

2. For even among the heretics, they who for their iniquities and errors have suffered any trouble, vaunt themselves in the name of martyrdom, that with this fair covering disguised they may plunder the more easily, for wolves they are. Now if you would know in what rank they are to be held, hear that good shepherd, the Apostle Paul, that not all who even give up their bodies in suffering to the flames, are to be accounted to have shed their blood for the sheep, but rather against the sheep. If, says he, I speak with the tongues of men, and angels, but have not charity, I have become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. If I should know all mysteries, and have all prophecy, and all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not charity, I am nothing. Now a great thing truly is this faith that removes mountains. They are indeed all great things; but if I have them without charity, says he, not they, but I am nothing. But up to this point he has not touched them, who glory in sufferings under the false name of martyrdom. Hear how he touches, yea rather pierces them through and through. If I should distribute, says he, all my goods to the poor, and deliver my body to be burned. Now here they are. But mark what follows; but have not charity, it profits me nothing. Lo, they have come to suffering, come even to the shedding of blood, yea come to the burning of the body; and yet it profits them nothing, because charity is lacking. Add charity, they all profit; take charity away, all the rest profit nothing.

3. What a good is this charity, Brethren! What more precious? What yields greater light? Or strength? Or profit? Or security? Many are the gifts of God, which even the wicked have, who shall say, Lord, we have prophesied in Your Name, in Your Name have cast out devils, in Your Name done many mighty works. And He will not answer, You have not done them. For in the Presence of so great a Judge, they will not dare to lie or boast of things they have not done. But for that they had not charity, He answers them all, I know you not. Now how can he have so much as the smallest charity, who when even convicted, loves not unity? It was then as impressing on good shepherds this unity, that our Lord was unwilling to mention many shepherds. For it is not, as I have said already, that Peter was not a good shepherd, and Paul, the rest of the Apostles, and the holy Bishops who were after them, and blessed Cyprian. All these were good shepherds; and notwithstanding to good shepherds, He commended not good shepherds, but a good Shepherd. I, says He, am the good Shepherd.

4. Let us question the Lord with such little understanding as we have, and in most humble discourse hold converse with so great a Master. What sayest Thou, O Lord, Thou good Shepherd? For You are the good Shepherd, who art also the good Lamb; at once Pastor and Pasturage, at once Lamb and Lion. What sayest Thou? Let us give ear and aid us, that we may understand. I, says He, am the good Shepherd. What is Peter? Is he either not a shepherd, or a bad one? Let us see, if he be not a shepherd. Do you love Me? You said to Him Lord, Do you love Me? And he answered, I do love You. And Thou to him, Feed My sheep. Thou, You, Lord, by Your Own questioning, by the strong assurance of Your Own words, made of the lover a shepherd. He is a shepherd then to whom You committed Your sheep to be fed. You Yourself entrusted them, he is a shepherd. Let us now see whether he be not a good one. This we find by the very question, and his answer. You asked, whether he loved You; he answered, I do love You. Thou saw his heart, that he answered truth. Is he not then good, who loves so great a Good? Whence that answer drawn from his inmost heart? Wherefore was this Peter, who had Your eyes in his heart for witnesses, sad because You asked him not once only, but a second and a third time, that by a threefold confession of love, he might efface the threefold sin of denial; wherefore, I say, being sad that he was asked repeatedly by Him who knew what He was asking, and had given what He heard; wherefore being sad, did he return such an answer, Lord, You know all things, You know that I love You? What! In making such a confession, such a profession rather, would he lie? In truth then, he made answer of his love to You, and from his inmost heart he gave utterance to a lover's words. Now You have said, A good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings forth good things. So then he is both a shepherd, and a good shepherd; nothing it is true to the power and goodness of the Shepherd of shepherds; but nevertheless even he is both a shepherd, and a good one; and all other such are good shepherds.

5. What means it then, that to good shepherds Thou dost set forth One Only Shepherd, but that in One Shepherd Thou teachest unity? And the Lord Himself explains this more clearly by my ministry, putting you, beloved, in remembrance by this Gospel, and saying, Hear what I have set forth; I have said, 'I am the good Shepherd.' because all the rest, all the good shepherds, are My members. One Head, One Body, One Christ. So then both the Shepherd of shepherds, and the shepherds of the Shepherd, and the sheep with their shepherds under The Shepherd. What is all this, but what the Apostle says? For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. Therefore if Christ be even so, with good reason does Christ in Himself containing all good shepherds, set forth One, saying, 'I am the good Shepherd.' 'I am,' I Alone am, all the rest with Me are one in unity. Whoever feeds without Me, feeds against Me. 'He that gathers not with Me, scatters.' Hear then this unity more forcibly set forth; Other sheep, says He, I have which are not of this fold. For He was speaking to the first fold of the stock of the fleshly Israel. But there were others of the stock of the faith of this Israel, and they were yet without, were among the Gentiles, predestinated, not yet gathered in. These He knew who had predestinated them; He knew, who had come to redeem them with the shedding of His Own Blood. He saw them who did not yet see Him; He knew them who yet believed not on Him. Other sheep, says He, I have which are not of this fold; because they are not of the stock of the flesh of Israel. But nevertheless they shall not be outside of this fold, for them also I must bring, that there may be One Fold, and One Shepherd.

6. With good reason then to This Shepherd of shepherds, does His Beloved, His Spouse, His Fair One, but by Him made fair, before by sin deformed, beautiful afterward through pardon and grace, speak in her love and ardour after Him, and say to Him, Where feedest Thou? And observe how, by what transport this spiritual love is here animated. And far better are they by this transport delighted, who have tasted ought of the sweetness of this love. They hear this properly, who love Christ. For in them, and of them, does the Church sing this in the Song of Songs; who love Christ, as it seemed without beauty, yet the Only Beautiful One. For we saw Him, it is said, and He had neither beauty nor comeliness. Such He appeared on the Cross, such when crowned with thorns did He exhibit Himself, disfigured, and without comeliness, as if He had lost His power, as if not the Son of God. Such seemed He to the blind. For it is in the person of the Jews that Isaiah said this, We saw Him, and He had no beauty nor comeliness. When it was said, If He be the Son of God, let Him come down from the Cross. He saved others, Himself He cannot save. And smiting Him on the head with a reed, they said, Prophesy unto us, you Christ, who smote You? Because He had neither beauty nor comeliness. As such did you Jews see Him. For blindness has happened in part to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles enter in, until the other sheep come. Because then blindness has happened, therefore did you see the Comely One without comeliness. For had you known Him, you would never have crucified the Lord of Glory. But you did it, because you knew Him not. And yet He who as though without beauty bare with you, all Beauteous as He was, prayed for you; Father, says He, forgive them, for they know not what they do. For if He were without comeliness, how is it that she loves Him, who says, Tell me, O Thou whom my soul loves? How is it that she loves Him? How is it that she burns for Him? How is it that she fears so much to stray from Him? How is it that she has so great delight in Him, that her only punishment is to be without Him? What would there be for which He should be loved, if He were not beautiful? But how could she love Him so, if He appeared to her as He did to those blind men persecuting Him, and knowing not what they do? As what then did she love Him? As comely in form above the sons of men. Comely in form above the sons of men, grace is poured abroad in Your Lips. So then from these Your Lips, Tell me, O Thou whom my soul loves. Tell me, says she, O Thou whom, not my flesh, but, my soul loves. Tell me where You feed, where Thou liest down in the midday; lest haply I light, as one veiled, upon the flocks of Your companions.

7. It seems obscure, obscure it is; for it is a mystery of the sacred marriage bed. For she says, The King has brought me into His chamber. Of such a chamber is this a mystery. But you who are not as profane kept off from this chamber, hear what you are, and say with her, if with her you love (and you do love with her, if you are in her); say all, and yet let one say, for unity says; Tell me, O Thou whom my soul loves. For they had one soul to Godward, and one heart. Tell me where You feed, where Thou liest down in the midday? What does the midday signify? Great heat, and great brightness. So then, make known to me who are Your wise ones, fervent in spirit, and brilliant in doctrine. Make known to me Your Right Hand, and men learned in heart, in wisdom. To them may I cleave in Your Body, to them be united, with them enjoy You. Tell me then, tell me, where You feed, where Thou liest down in the midday; lest I fall upon them who say other things of You, entertain other sentiments of You; believe other things of You, preach other things of You; and have their own flocks, and are Your companions; for that they live of Your table, and handle the sacraments of Your table. For companions are so called, because they eat together, messmates as it were. Such are reproved in the Psalm; For if Mine enemy had spoken great things against Me, I would surely have hidden Myself from him; and if he that hated Me had spoken great things against Me, I would surely have hidden Myself from him; but you a man of one mind with Me, My guide, and My familiar, who took sweet meats together with Me, in the house of God we walked with consent. Why then now against the house of the Lord with dissent, but that they have gone out from us, but they were not of us? Therefore, O Thou whom my soul loves, that I may not fall upon such, Your companions, but companions such as Samson's were, who kept not faith with their friend, but wished to corrupt his wife. Therefore, that I may not fall upon such as these, that I may not light upon them, that is, fall upon them, as one that is veiled, as one that is concealed, that is, and obscure, not as established upon the mountain. Tell me then, O you whom my soul loves, where You feed, where Thou liest down in the midday; who are the wise and faithful in whom Thou dost specially rest, lest by chance as in blindness I fall upon the flocks, not Your flocks, but the flocks of Your companions. For you did not say to Peter, Feed your sheep, but, Feed My sheep.

8. Let then the good Shepherd, and, the Comely in form above the sons of men, make answer to this beloved one; make answer to her whom He has made beautiful from among the children of men. Hear what He answers, and understand, beware of that wherewith He alarms, love that which He advises. What then does He answer? How free from soft caresses, yea, to her caresses He returns severity! He is sharp that He may bind her closely, that He may keep her. If you know not yourself, says He, O you fair one among women: for however fair others may be by the gifts of your Spouse, they are heresies, fair in outward ornament, not within: fair are they without, and outwardly they shine, they disguise themselves by the name of righteousness; but all the beauty of the King's daughter is within. If then you know not yourself; that you are one, that you are throughout all nations, that you are chaste, that you ought not to corrupt yourself with the disordered converse of evil companions. If you know not yourself, that in uprightness, he has espoused you to Me, to present you a chaste Virgin to Christ; and that in uprightness you should present your own self to Me, lest by evil converse, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds too should be corrupted from my purity. If, I say, you know not yourself to be such, go your way; go your way. For to others I shall say, Enter into the joy of your Lord. To you I shall not say, Enter in; but, Go your way; that you may be among those, who went out from us. Go your way. That is, if you know not yourself, then, go your way. But if you know yourself, enter in. But, if you know not yourself, go your way by the footsteps of the flocks, and feed your kids in the tents of the shepherds. Go your way by the footsteps, not of the Flock, but, of the flocks, and feed, not as Peter, My sheep, but, your kids; in the tents, not of the Shepherd, but, of the shepherds; not of unity, but of dissension; not established there, where there is One flock and One Shepherd. The beloved one was confirmed, edified, made stronger, prepared to die for her Spouse and to live with her Spouse.

9. These words which I have quoted out of the Holy Song of Songs, of a kind of bridal song of the Bridegroom and the Bride (for it is a spiritual wedding, wherein we must live in great purity, for Christ has granted to the Church in spirit that which His Mother had in body, to be at once a Mother and a Virgin); these words, I say, the Donatists accommodate to their own perverted sense in a very different meaning. And how I will not conceal from you, and what you may answer them, I will, by the Lord's help, as well as I shall be able, briefly recommend. When then we begin to press them with the light of the Church's unity spread over the whole world, and demand of them to show us any testimony out of the Scriptures, where God has foretold that the Church should be in Africa, as if all the rest of the nations were lost; they are in the habit of taking this testimony in their mouths, and saying; Africa is under the midday sun; the Church then they say, asking the Lord where He feeds, where He lies down; He answers, 'Under the midday sun;' as if the voice of her who put the question, were, Tell me, O Thou whom my soul loves, where You feed, where Thou liest down; and the Voice of Him who answers, were, Under the midday sun; that is, in Africa. If then it be the Church which asks, and the Lord makes answer where he feeds, in Africa, because the Church was in Africa; then she who asks was not in Africa. Tell me, she says, O Thou whom my soul loves, where You feed, where Thou liest down; and He makes answer to some Church out of Africa, Under the midday sun, in Africa I lie down, in Africa I feed, as if it were, I do not feed in you. I repeat, if she who asks is the Church, which no one disputes, which not even themselves gainsay; and they hear something about Africa; then she who asks is out of Africa; and because it is the Church, the Church is out of Africa.

10. But see, I admit that Africa is under the midday sun; although Egypt is rather under the meridian, under the midday sun than Africa. Now after what fashion This Shepherd is there in Egypt, they who know, will acknowledge; and for them that know not, let them enquire how large a flock lie gathers there, how great a multitude He has of holy men and women who utterly despise the world. That flock has so increased, that it has expelled superstitions even thence. To pass over how it has in its increase banished thence the whole superstition of idols, which had been firmly fixed there; I admit what you say, O evil companions; I admit it altogether, I agree that Africa is in the South, and that Africa is signified in that which is said, Where do You feed, where do You lie down under the midday sun? But do you too equally observe how that up to this point these are the words of the Bride, and not yet of the Bridegroom. Hitherto it is the Bride that says, Tell me, O Thou whom my soul loves, where You feed, where Thou dost lie down in the midday, lest by chance I light, as one veiled. O you deaf, and blind one, if in the midday you see Africa, why in her that is veiled do you not see the Bride? Tell me, she said, O Thou whom my soul loves. Without doubt she addresses her Spouse, when she says, whom [in the masculine ] my soul loves. Just as if it were said, Tell me, O you whom [in the feminine ] my soul loves; we should understand that the Bridegroom spoke these words to His Bride; so when you hear, Tell me, O you whom (in the masculine) my soul loves, where You feed, where Thou liest down; add to this, to her words belongs also what follows, In the midday. I am asking, where You feed in the midday, lest by chance I light as one veiled upon the flocks of Your companions. I consent entirely, I admit what you understand of Africa; it is signified by the midday. But then as you understand it, the Church of Christ beyond the sea is addressing her Spouse, in fear of falling into the African error, O Thou whom my soul, loves, tell me, teach me. For I hear that in the midday, that is in Africa, there are two parties, yea rather many schisms. Tell me, then, where You feed, what sheep belong to You, what fold Thou biddest me love there, whereunto ought I to unite myself. Lest by chance I light as one veiled. For they mock me as if I were concealed, they mock me as destroyed, as though I existed nowhere else. Lest, then, as one veiled, as if concealed, I light upon the flocks, that is, upon the congregarious of the heretics, your companions; the Donatists, the Maximinianists, the Rogatists and all the other pests who gather without, and who therefore scatter; Tell me, I pray You, if I must seek my Shepherd there, that I fall not into the gulf of re-baptizing. I exhort you, I beseech you by the sanctity of such nuptials, love this Church, be in this holy Church, be this Church; love the good Shepherd, the Spouse so fair, who deceives no one, who desires no one to perish. Pray too for the scattered sheep; that they too may come, that they too may acknowledge Him, that they too may love Him; that there may be One Flock and One Shepherd. Let us turn to the Lord, etc.

Sermon 89 on the New Testament

[CXXXIX. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, John 10:30 , I and the Father are one.

1. You have heard what the Lord God, Jesus Christ, the Only Son of God, born of God the Father without any mother, and born of a Virgin mother without any human father, said, I and My Father are One. Receive this, believe it in such wise that you may attain to understand it. For faith ought to go before understanding, that understanding may be the reward of faith. For the Prophet has said most expressly, Unless you believe, you shall not understand. What then is simply preached is to be believed; what is with exactness discussed, is to be understood. At first then to imbue your minds with faith we preach to you Christ, the Only Son of God the Father. Why is added, The Only Son? Because He whose Only Son He is, has many sons by grace. All the rest then, all saints are sons of God by grace, He Alone by Nature. They who are sons of God by grace are not What the Father is. And no saint has ever dared to say, what that Only Son says, I and My Father are One. Is He not then our Father too? If He be not our Father, how say we when we pray, Our Father, which art in heaven? But we are sons whom He has made sons by His Own will, not begotten as sons of His Own Nature. And in truth He has begotten us too, but as it is said, as adopted ones, begotten by the favour of His adoption, not by Nature. And this too are we called, for that God has called us into the adoption of sons; we are though adopted, men. He is called the Only Son, the Only Begotten, in that, He is That which the Father is; but we are men, The Father is God. In then that He is That which the Father is; He said, and said truly, I and My Father are One. What is, are One? Are of one Nature. What is, are One? Are of one Substance.

2. Peradventure, you but imperfectly understand what of one Substance is. Take we pains that you may understand it; may God assist both me who speak, and you that hear; me, that I may speak such things as are true and fit for you; and you, that before and above all things you may believe; and then that you may understand as best you can. What then is of One Substance? Let me make use of similitudes to you, that what is imperfectly understood may be made clear by example. As, suppose, God is gold. His Son is gold also. If similitudes ought not to be given for heavenly things from things earthly, how is it written, Now the Rock was Christ? So then, Whatsoever the Father is, This is the Son also; as I have said, for example, The Father is gold, the Son is gold. For he who says, The Son is not of the Very Substance which the Father is; what else says he but, The Father is gold, the Son is silver? If the Father be gold, and the Son silver; the Only Son has degenerated from the Father. A man begets a man; of what substance the father is who begets, of the same substance is the Son who is begotten. What is, of the same substance? The one is a man, and the other is a man; the one has a soul; so has the other a soul; the one has a body, so has the other a body; what one is, that is the other.

3. But the Arian heresy makes answer, and says. What says it to me? Mark what you have said? What have I said? That the Son of a man may be compared to the Son of God. Certainly he may be compared; but not as you suppose, in strictness of expression; but for a similitude. But tell me now what you would make of this. Do you not see, says he, that the father who begets is greater in age, and the son who is begotten less? How then say ye? Tell me; how then say ye, that the Father and the Son, God and Christ, are equal; when you see that when a man begets a son, the son is less, and the father greater? Thou wise one, in eternity you are looking for times; where there are no times, you are looking for differences of age! When the father is greater in age, and the son less, both are in time; the one grows, for that the other grows old. For by nature, the man, the father, did not beget one less, by nature, as I said, but by age. Would you know, how that by nature he did not beget one less? Wait, let him grow, and he will be equal to his father. For a little boy even by growing attains to his father's full size. Whereas you assert that the Son of God is in such wise born less, as never to grow, and by growing even to attain to His Father's size. Now then a man's son born of a man, is born in a better condition than the Son of God. How? Because the former grows, and attains to his father's size. But Christ, if it is as you say, is in such wise born less, as that He must ever remain less, and no growth of years at least is to be looked for here. Thus then you say that there is a diversity in nature. But why say you so, but because you will not believe the Son to be of the Same Substance which the Father is? Finally, first acknowledge that He is of the Same Substance, and so call Him less. Consider the case of a man, he is a man. What is his substance? He is a man. What is he whom he begets? He is less, but he is a man. The age is unequal, the nature equal. Do you then say too, What the Father is, That is the Son, but the Son is less? Say so, make a step forward, say, of the Same Substance, only less; and you will get to His being equal. For it is not a little step you take, it is not a little approach you make to the truth, of acknowledging Him equal, if you shall acknowledge Him to be of the Same Substance, though less. But He is not of the Same Substance, this you say. So then in that you say this, here is gold and silver; what you say is as if a man were to beget a horse. For a man is of one substance, a horse of another. If then the Son is of another substance than the Father, the Father has begotten a monster. For when a creature, that is a woman, gives birth to anything that is not a man, it is called a monster. But that it be not a monster, he that is born is that which he is that begot him, that is, a man and a man, a horse and a horse, a dove and a dove, a sparrow and a sparrow.

4. To His creatures has He given to beget that which they are. To His creatures, to mortal, earthly creatures, has God given, has granted to beget that which they are; and do you think that He has not been able to reserve this for Himself, He who is before all ages? Should He who has no beginning of time, beget a son, different from That which Himself is, beget a degenerate son? Hear how great a blasphemy it is to say, that the Only Son of God is of another substance. Most certainly if He is so, He is degenerate. If you should say to any child of man, You are degenerate, how great an offense is it! And yet in what sense is any child of man said to be degenerate? As, for example, his father is brave, he is a poltroon and a coward. If any one sees him, and would rebuke him, as he thinks of his brave father, what does he say to him? Get you hence, you degenerate one! What is degenerate one? Your father was a brave man, and you tremble through fear. He to whom this is said, is degenerate by some fault, by nature he is equal. What is, by nature he is equal? He is a man, which his father also is. But the one brave, the other a coward; the one bold, the other timid; yet both men. By some fault then he is degenerate, not by nature. But when you say, that the Only Son, the One Son of the Father, is degenerate, you say nought else, but that He is not What the Father is; and you do not say, that having been already born, He has become degenerate; but He was begotten so. Who can endure this blasphemy? If they could in any sort whatever see this blasphemy, they would fly from it, and become Catholics.

5. But what shall I say, Brethren? Let us not be angry with them; but pray we for them, that God would give them understanding; for perhaps they were born so. What is, were born so? They receive what they hold from their parents. They prefer their birth to the truth. Let them become what they are not, that they may be able to keep what they are; that is, let them become Catholics, that they may keep their nature as men; that the creation of God in them perish not, let the grace of God be added to them. For they imagine that by their outrage of the Son they honour the Father. When you say to him, Thou blaspheme; he answers, Why do I blaspheme? In that you say that the Son is not what the Father is. And he answers me, Yea, it is you who blasphemes. Why? Because you would make the Son equal to the Father. I do wish to make the Son equal with the Father, but is this to make a stranger equal? The Father rejoices when I equal with Him His Only Son; He rejoices because He is not envious. And because God is not envious of His Only Son, therefore did He beget Him Such as He is Himself. You do wrong both to the Son, and to the Father Himself, for whose honour you would do outrage to the Son. For in truth for this reason do you say that the Son is not of the Same Substance, lest you should do wrong to His Father. I will soon show you, that you do wrong to both. How? says he. If I say to any man's son, You are degenerate, you are not like your father; degenerate, you are not what your father is. The son hears it, and is angry, and says, 'Was I then born degenerate?' The father hears it, and is more angry still. And in his anger what says he? 'Have I then begotten a degenerate son? If I then be one thing, and I have begotten another, I have begotten a monster.' What is it then, that whereas you wish to pay honour to the One by doing outrage to the Other, you do outrage to Both? Thou offendest the Son, but you will not propitiate the Father. When you honour the Father by outraging the Son, you offend both the Son and the Father. From whom will you fly? To whom will you fly? When the Father is angry with you, do you fly to the Son? What does He say to you? 'To whom do you fly, to Me, whom you have made degenerate?' When the Son is offended, do you run to the Father? He too says to you; 'To whom do you fly, to Me who, you have said, have begotten a degenerate Son.' Let this suffice for you; hold it fast, commit it to memory, inscribe it in your faith. But that you may understand it, pour out your prayers to God, the Father and the Son, who are One.

Sermon 90 on the New Testament

[CXL. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, John 12:44 , He that believes in me, believes not on me, but on him that sent me. Against a certain expression of Maximinus, a bishop of the Arians, who spread his blasphemy in Africa where he was with the Count Segisvult.

1. What is it, Brethren, which we have heard the Lord saying, He that believes in Me, believes not on Me, but on Him that sent Me? It is good for us to believe in Christ, especially seeing that He has also Himself expressly said this which you have now heard, that is, that He had come a Light into the world, and whosoever believes in Him shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Good then it is to believe in Christ; and a great evil it is not to believe in Christ. But because Christ the Son is, Whatsoever He is, of the Father, but the Father is not of the Son, but is the Father of the Son; He recommends to us indeed faith in Himself, but refers the honour to His Original.

2. For hold this fast as a firm and settled truth, if you would continue Catholics, that God the Father begot God the Son without time, and made Him of a Virgin in time. The first nativity exceeds times; the second nativity enlightens times. Yet both nativities are marvellous; the one without a mother, the other without a father. When God begot the Son, He begot Him of Himself, not of a mother; when the Mother gave birth to her Son, she gave Him birth as a Virgin, not by man. He was born of the Father without a beginning; He was born of a mother, as today at an appointed beginning. Born of the Father He made us; born of a mother He re-made us. He was born of the Father, that we might be; He was born of a mother, that we might not be lost. But the Father begot Him equal to Himself, and All Whatsoever the Son is, He has of the Father. But What God the Father is, He has not of the Son. Accordingly we say that the Father is God, of none; the Son, God of God. Wherefore all that the Son does marvellously, all that He says truly, He attributes to Him of whom He is; yet can He not be ought else than He of whom He is. Adam was made a man; he had power to become something other than he was made. For he was made righteous, and he had power to become unrighteous. But the Only-Begotten Son of God, What He is, This cannot be changed; He cannot be changed into anything else, cannot be diminished, What He was He cannot but be, He cannot but be equal to the Father. But undoubtedly He who gave all things to the Son by His Birth, gave it to One not needing ought; without doubt this very equality too with the Father, the Father gave to the Son. How did the Father give It? Did He beget Him less, and add to Him to complete His Form, that He might make Him equal? If he had done this, He would have given it to one in need. But I have told you already what you ought most firmly to hold fast, that is, that All That the Son is, the Father gave Him, gave Him, that is, by His Birth, not as in need of ought. If He gave it to Him by His Birth, and not as in need, then doubtless He both gave Him equality, and in giving Him equality, begot Him equal. And although the One be One Person, and the Other Another; yet is not the One one thing, and the Other another; but What the One is, That the Other also. He who is the One, is not the Other; but What the One, That too the Other.

3. He Who sent Me, says He, you have heard it; He Who sent Me, says He, He gave Me a commandment what I should say, and what I should speak; and I know that His commandment is life everlasting. It is John's Gospel, hold it fast. He Who sent Me, He gave Me a commandment what I should say, and what I should speak; and I know that His commandment is life everlasting. O that He would grant me to say what I wish! For my poverty and His abundance straitens me. He, says He, gave Me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak; and I know that His commandment is life everlasting. Search in the Epistle of this John the Evangelist for what he has said of Christ. Let us believe, he says, His True Son Jesus Christ. This is the True God and Everlasting Life. What is, The True God, and Everlasting Life? The True Son of God is the the True God, and Everlasting Life. Why did He say, On His True Son? Because God has many sons, therefore was He to be distinguished, by adding that He was the True Son. Not by simply saying that He is the Son; but by adding, as I have said, that He is the True Son; therefore He was to be distinguished, because of the many sons which God has. For we are sons by grace, He by Nature. We made by the Father through Him; He Himself That Which the Father is; are we too That Which God is?

4. But some man coming across us, knowing not what he is saying, says, For this reason was it said, I and My Father are One; for that They have with One Another an agreement of will, not because the Nature of the Son is the Very Same as the Nature of the Father. For the Apostles too (now this is what he said, not I), for the Apostles too are one with the Father and the Son. Horrible blasphemy! And the Apostles, says he, are one with the Father and the Son, in that they obey the will of the Father and the Son. Has he dared to say this? Let Paul then say, I and God are one. Let Peter say it, let every one of the Prophets say, I and God are one. They do not say it; God forbid they should. They know that they are a different nature, a nature that needs to be saved; they know that they are a different nature, a nature that needs to be enlightened. No one says, I and God are one. Whatsoever progress he may make, howsoever he may surpass others in holiness, with how great eminence soever of virtue he may excel, he never says, I and God are one. for if he have excellence, and therefore says it; by saying it, he loses what he had.

5. Believe then that the Son is equal with the Father; but yet that the Son is of the Father; but the Father not of the Son. The Original is with the Father, equality with the Son. For if He be not equal, He is not a true Son. For what are we saying, Brethren? If He is not equal, He is less; if He is less, I ask the nature that needs to be saved, in its misbelief, how is He born less? Answer, Does He as being less grow or not? If He grows, then the Father grows old. But if He will ever be what He was born; if He was born less, He will continue less; with this His loss He will be perfect; born perfect with this loss of the Father's Form, He is never to attain to the Father's Form. Thus do you ungodly assail the Son; thus do you heretics blaspheme the Son. What then says the Catholic faith? The Son is God, of God the Father; God the Father, not God of the Son. But God the Son equal with the Father, Born equal; not Born less, not made equal, but Born equal. What the Father is, That is He also who was born. Was the Father ever without the Son? God forbid! Take away your ever, where there is no time. The Father always, the Son always. The Father without beginning of time, the Son without beginning of time; the Father never before the Son, the Father never without the Son. But yet because the Son is God of God the Father, and the Father God, but not of God the Son; let not the honouring of the Son in the Father displease us. For the honouring of the Son gives honour to the Father, it diminishes not His Own Divinity.

6. Because then I was speaking of what I had brought forward, And I knew, says He, that His commandment is everlasting life. Mark, Brethren, what I am saying; I know that His commandment is everlasting life. And we read in the same John concerning Christ, He is The True God and Everlasting Life. If the Father's commandment is everlasting Life, and Christ the Son Himself is everlasting Life; the Son is Himself the Father's Commandment. For how is not That the Father's Commandment, which is the Father's Word? Or if you take the commandment given to the Son by the Father in a carnal sense, as if the Father said to the Son, I command You this, I wish You to do that; in what words spoke He to the Only Word? When He gave commandment to the Word, did He look for words? That the Father's Commandment then is Life everlasting, and that the Son Himself is Life everlasting, believe and receive, believe and understand, for the Prophet says, Unless ye believe you shall not understand. Do you not comprehend? Be enlarged. Hear the Apostle: Be enlarged, bear not the yoke with unbelievers. They who will not believe this before they comprehend, are unbelievers. And because they have determined to be unbelievers, they will remain in their ignorance. Let them believe then that they may understand. Most certainly the Father's Commandment is everlasting Life. Therefore the Father's Commandment is the Very Son who was born this day; a Commandment not given in time but a Commandment Born. The Gospel of John exercises our minds, refines and uncarnalizes them, that of God we may think not after a carnal but a spiritual manner. Let so much then, Brethren, suffice you; lest in length of disputation, the sleep of forgetfulness steal over you.

Sermon 91 on the New Testament

[CXLI. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, John 14:6 , I am the way, and the truth, and the life.

1. Amongst other things, when the Holy Gospel was being read, you heard what the Lord Jesus said, I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. Truth and life does every man desire; but not every man does find the way. That God is a certain Life Eternal, Unchangeable, Intelligible, Intelligent, Wise, Making wise, some philosophers even of this world have seen. The fixed, settled, unwavering truth, wherein are all the principles of all things created, they saw indeed, but afar off; they saw, but amid the error in which they were placed; and therefore what way to attain to that so great, and ineffable, and beatific a possession they formed not. For that even they saw (as far as can be seen by man) the Creator by means of the creature, the Worker by His work, the Framer of the world by the world, the Apostle Paul is witness, whom Christians ought surely to believe. For he said when he was speaking of such; The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness. These are, as you recognise, the words of the Apostle Paul; The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, and unrighteousness of men; who detain the truth in unrighteousness. Did he say that they do not detain truth? No: but, They detained the truth in unrighteousness. What they detain, is good; but wherein they detain it, is bad. They detain the truth in unrighteousness.

2. Now it occurred to him that it might be said to him, Whence do these ungodly men detain the truth? Hath God spoken to any one of them? Have they received the Law as the people of the Israelites by Moses? Whence then do they detain the truth, though it be even in this unrighteousness? Hear what follows, and he shows. Because that which can be known of God, he says, is manifest in them; for God has manifested it unto them. Manifested it unto them to whom He has not given the Law? Hear how He has manifested it. For the invisible things of Him are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. Ask the world, the beauty of the heaven, the brilliancy and ordering of the stars, the sun, that suffices for the day, the moon, the solace of the night; ask the earth fruitful in herbs, and trees, full of animals, adorned with men; ask the sea, with how great and what kind of fishes filled; ask the air, with how great birds stocked; ask all things, and see if they do not as if it were by a language of their own make answer to you, God made us. These things have illustrious philosophers sought out, and by the art have come to know the Artificer. What then? Why is the wrath of God revealed against this ungodliness? Because they detain the truth in unrighteousness? Let him come, let him show how. For how they came to know Him, he has said already. The invisible things of Him, that is God, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made; His eternal Power also and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. Because that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. They are the Apostle's words, not mine: And their foolish heart was darkened; for professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. What by curious search they found, by pride they lost. Professing themselves to be wise, attributing, that is, the gift of God to themselves, they became fools. They are the Apostle's words, I say; Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.

3. Show, prove their foolishness. Show, O Apostle, and as you have shown us whereby they were able to attain to the knowledge of God, for that the invisible things of Him are clearly seen, being understood by those things that are made; so now show how, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Hear; Because they changed, he says, the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of a corruptible man, and of birds, and of four-footed beasts, and of creeping things. For of figures of these animals, the Pagans made themselves gods. You have found out God, and you worship an idol. You have found out the truth, and this very truth do you detain in unrighteousness. And what by the works of God you have come to know, by the works of man you lose. You have considered the universe, hast collected the order of the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all the elements; you will not take heed to this, that the world is the work of God, an idol is the work of a carpenter. If the carpenter as he has given the figure, could also give a heart, the carpenter would be worshipped by his own idol. For, O man, as God is your Framer, so the idol's framer is a man. Who is your God? He That made you. Who is the carpenter's god? He That made him. Who is the idol's god? He that made it. If then the idol had a heart, would he not worship the carpenter who made it? See in what unrighteousness they detained the truth, and found not the way that leads to that possession which they saw.

4. But Christ, for that He is with the Father, the Truth, and Life, the Word of God, of whom it is said, The Life was the Light of men; for that I say He is with the Father, the Truth, and Life, and we had no way whereby to go to the Truth, the Son of God, who is ever in the Father the Truth and Life, by assuming man's nature became the Way. Walk by Him as Man, and you come to God. By Him you go, to Him you go. Look not out for any way whereby to come to Him, besides Himself. For if He had not vouchsafed to be the Way, we should have always gone astray. He then became the Way Whereby you should come; I do not say to you, seek the Way. The Way Itself has come to you, arise and walk. Walk, with the life, not with the feet. For many walk well with the feet, and with their lives walk ill. For sometimes even those who walk well, run outside the way. Thus you will find men living well, and not Christians. They run well; but they run not in the way. The more they run, the more they go astray; because they are out of the Way. But if such men as these come to the Way, and hold on the Way, O how great is their security, because they both walk well, and do not go astray! But if they do not hold on the Way, however well they walk, alas! How are they to be bewailed! For better is it to halt in the way, than to walk on stoutly outside the way. Let this suffice for you, Beloved. Turn we to the Lord, etc.

Sermon 92 on the New Testament

[CXLII. Ben.]

On the same words of the Gospel, John 14:6 , I am the way, etc.

1. The divine lessons raise us up, that we be not broken by despair; and terrify us again, that we be not tossed to and fro by pride. But to hold the middle, the true, the strait way, as it were between the left hand of despair, and the right hand of presumption, would be most difficult for us, had not Christ said, I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. As if He had said, By what way would you go? 'I am the Way'. Whither would you go? 'I am the Truth.' Where would you abide? 'I am the Life.' Let us then walk with all assurance in the Way; but let us fear snares by the way side. The enemy does not dare to lay his snares in the way; because Christ is the Way; but most certainly by the way side he ceases not to do so. Whence too it is said in the Psalm, They have laid stumblingblocks for me by the way side. And another Scripture says, Remember that you walk in the midst of snares. These snares among which we walk are not in the way; but yet they are by the way side. What do you fear, what are you alarmed at, so you walk in the Way? Fear then, if you forsake the Way. For for this reason is the enemy even permitted to lay snares by the way side, lest through the security of exultation the Way be forsaken, and you fall into the snares.

2. Christ Humbled is the Way; Christ the Truth and the Life, Christ Highly Exalted and God. If you walk in the Humbled, you shall attain to the Exalted. If infirm as you are, you despise not the Humbled, you shall abide exceeding strong in the Exalted. For what cause was there of Christ's Humiliation, save your infirmity? For solely and irremediably did your infirmity press you in, and this circumstance it was that made so great a Physician come to you. For if your sickness had been even such, that you could have gone to the Physician, this infirmity might have seemed endurable. But because you could not go to Him, He came to you. He came teaching humility, whereby we might return; for that pride allowed us not to return to life; yea had even made us depart from life. For the heart of man being lifted up against God, and neglecting in its sound state His saving precepts, the soul fell away into infirmity; let her in her infirmity learn to hear Him whom in her strength she despised. Let her hear Him that she may rise, whom she despised, that she might fall. Let her at length, taught by experience, give ear to what she had no mind, when taught by precept, to obtain. For her misery has taught her, how evil a thing it is to go a whoring from the Lord. For to fall away from that Simple and Singular Good, into this multitude of pleasures, into the love of the world, and earthly corruption, is to go a whoring from the Lord. And He has addressed her as in a sense a harlot, to warn her to return: very often by the Prophets does He reproach her as a harlot, but yet not despaired of, for that He who reproaches the harlot has in His Hands the cleansing of the harlot too.

3. For He does not so reproach as to insult her; but He would bring her to confusion of face to heal her. Vehement are the exclamations of Scripture, nor does it deal softly by flattery with those whom it would by healing recover. You adulterers, do you not know that the friend of this world is constituted the enemy of God? The love of the world makes the soul adulterous, the love of the Framer of the world makes the soul chaste; but unless she blush for her corruption, she has no desire to return to that chaste embrace. Be she confounded that she may return, who was vaunting herself that she should not return. It was pride then that hindered the soul's return. But whoever reproaches does not cause the sin, but shows the sin. What the soul was loth to see, is placed before her eyes; and what she desired to have behind her back, is brought before her face. See yourself in yourself. Why do you see the mote in your brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam in your own eye? The soul which went away from herself, is recalled to herself. As she had gone away from herself, so went she away from her Lord. For she had respect to herself, and pleased herself, and became enamoured of her own power. She withdrew from him, and abode not in herself; and from her own self she is repelled, and from herself shut out, and she falls away unto things without her. She loves the world, loves the things of time, loves earthly things; who if she but loved herself to the neglect of Him by whom she was made, would at once be less, at once fail by loving that which is less. For she is less than God; yea less by far, and by so much less as the thing made is less than the Maker. It was God then That ought to have been loved, yea in such wise ought God to be loved, that if it might be so, we should forget ourselves. What then is this change? The soul has forgotten herself but by loving the world; let her now forget herself but by loving the world's Maker. Driven away even from herself, I say, she has in a manner lost herself, and has not skilled to see her own actions, she justifies her iniquities; she is puffed up, and prides herself in insolence, in voluptuousness, in honours, in posts of authority, in riches, in the power of vanity. She is reproved, rebuked, is shown to herself, mislikes herself, confesses her deformity, longs for her first beauty, and she who went away in profusion returns in confusion.

4. Seems he to pray against her, or for her, who says, Fill their faces with shame? It seems to be an adversary, it seems an enemy. Hear what follows, and see whether a friend can offer this prayer. Fill, says he, their faces with shame, and they shall seek Your Name, O Lord. Did he hate them whose faces he desired to be filled with shame? See how he loves them whom he would have seek the Name of the Lord. Does he love only, or hate only? Or does he both hate, and love? Yea, he both hates, and loves. He hates what is yours, he loves you. What is, He hates what is yours, he loves you? He hates what you have made, he loves what God has made. For what are your own things but sins? And what are you but what God made you, a man after His Own image and likeness? Thou dost neglect what you were made, love what you have made. Thou dost love your own works without you, dost neglect the work of God within you. Deservedly do you go away, deservedly fall off, yea, deservedly even from your own self depart; deservedly hear the words, A spirit that goes and returns not. Hear rather Him That calls and says, Turn to Me, and I will turn to you. For God does not really turn away, and turn again; Abiding the Same He rebukes, Unchangeable He rebukes. He has turned away, in that you have turned yourself away. You have fallen from Him, He has not fallen away from you. Hear Him then saying to you, Turn to Me, and I will turn to you. For this is, I turn unto you, in that you turn unto Me. He follows on the back of him that flies, He enlightens the face of him that returns. For whither will you fly in flying from God? Whither will you fly in flying from Him who is contained in no place, and is nowhere absent? He That delivers him that turns to him, punishes him that turns away. You have a Judge by flying; have a Father by returning.

5. But he had been swollen up by pride, and by this swelling could not return by the strait way. He who became the Way, cries out, Enter in by the strait gate. He tries to enter in, the swelling impedes him; and his trying is so much the more hurtful, in proportion as the swelling is a greater impediment. For the straitness irritates his swelling; and being irritated he will swell the more; and swelling more, when will he enter in? So then let him bring down the swelling. And how? Let him take the medicine of humility; let him against the swelling drink the bitter but wholesome cup; drink the cup of humility. Why does he squeeze himself? The bulk, not for its size, but for its swelling, does not allow him. For size has solidity, swelling inflation. Let not him that is swollen fancy himself of great size; that he may be great, and substantial, and solid, let him bring down his swelling. Let him not long after these present things, let him not glory in this pomp of things failing and corruptible; let him hearken to Him who said, Enter in by the strait gate, saying also, I am the Way. For as if some swollen one had asked, How shall I enter in? He says, 'I am the Way.' Enter in by Me; Thou walkest only by Me, to enter in by the door. For as He said, I am the Way; so also, I am the Door. Why do you seek whereby to return, whither to return, whereby to enter in? Lest you should in any respect go astray, He became all for you. Therefore in brief He says, Be humble, be meek. Let us hear Him saying this most plainly, that you may see whereby is the way, what is the way, whither is the way. Whither would you come? But perhaps in covetousness you would possess all things. All things are delivered unto Me of My Father, says He. It may be you will say, They were delivered to Christ: but are they to me? Hear the Apostle speak; hear, as I said some time ago, lest you be broken by despair; hear how you were loved when you had nothing to be loved for, hear how you were loved when unsightly, deformed, before there was ought in you which was meet to be loved. You were first loved, that you might be made meet to be loved. For Christ, as the Apostle says, died for the ungodly. What! will you say that the ungodly deserved to be loved? I ask, what did the ungodly deserve? To be damned. Here you will answer, Yet, Christ died for the ungodly. Lo, what was done for you when ungodly; what is reserved for you now godly? Christ died for the ungodly. You desired to possess all things; desire it not through covetousness, seek it through piety, seek it through humility. For if you seek thus, you shall possess. For you shall have Him by whom all things were made, and with Him shall possess all things.

6. I do not say this as though the result of reasoning. Hear the Apostle himself saying, He that spared not His Own Son, but delivered Him up for us all; how has He also not with Him given us all things? Lo, covetous one, you have all things. All things that you love, despise, that you be not kept back from Christ, and hold to Him in whom you may possess all things. The Physician Himself then needing no such medicine, yet that He might encourage the sick, drank what He had no need of; addressing him as it were refusing it, and raising him up in his fear, He drank first. The Cup, says He, which I shall drink of; I who have nothing in Me to be cured by that Cup, am yet to drink it, that you who needest to drink it, may not disdain to drink. Now consider, Brethren, ought the human race to be any longer sick after having received such a medicine? God has been now Humbled, and is man still proud? Let him hear, let him learn. All things, says He, have been delivered unto Me of My Father. If you desire all things, you shall have them with Me; if you desire the Father, by Me and in Me you shall have Him. No man knows the Father but the Son. Do not despair; come to the Son. Hear what follows, And he to whom the Son will reveal Him. Thou said, I am not able. You call me through a strait way; I am not able to enter in by a strait way. Come, says He, unto Me, all you that labour and are heavy laden. Your burden is your swelling. Come unto Me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me.

7. The Master of the Angels cries out, the Word of God, by whom all reasonable souls are without failing fed, the Food That refreshes, and abides Entire, cries out and says, Learn of Me. Let the people hear Him, saying, Learn of Me. Let them make answer, What do we learn of You? For we must be going to hear I know not what from the Great Artificer, when He says, Learn of Me. Who is it that says, Learn of Me? He who formed the earth, who divided the sea and the dry land, who created the fowls, who created the animals of the earth, who created all things that swim, who set the stars in the heaven, who distinguished the day and the night, who established the firmament, who separated the light from the darkness, He it is who says, Learn of Me. Is He haply about to tell us this, that we should do these things with Him? Who can do this? God Only does them. Fear not, He says, I am not laying any burden on you. 'Learn of Me,' this which for your sake I was made. 'Learn of Me,' says He, not to form the creature which by Me was made. Neither do I tell you indeed, to learn those things which I have granted to some, to whom I would, not to all, to raise the dead, to give sight to the blind, to open the ears of the deaf; nor to wish as for some great thing to learn these things of Me. The disciples returned with joy and exultation, saying, Lo, even the devils are subject unto us through Your Name. And the Lord said to them, In this rejoice not, that the devils are subject unto you; rejoice rather, because your names are written in heaven. To whom He would, He gave the power to cast out devils, to whom He would, He gave the power to raise the dead. Such miracles were done even before the Incarnation of the Lord; the dead were raised, lepers were cleansed; we read of these things. And who did them then, but He who in after time was the Man-Christ after David, but God-Christ before Abraham? He gave the power for all these things, He did them Himself by men; yet gave He not that power to all. Ought they to whom He gave it not to despair, and say that they have no part in Him because they have not been thought worthy to receive these gifts? In the body are various members: this member can do one thing, that another. God has compacted the body together, He has not given to the ear to see, nor to the eye to hear, nor to the forehead to smell, nor to the hand to taste; He has not given them these functions; but to all the members has He given soundness, has given union, has given unity, has by His Spirit quickened and united all alike. And so here He has not given to some to raise the dead, to others He has not given the power of disputation; yet to all what has He given? Learn of Me, that I am meek and lowly in heart. Forasmuch as we have heard Him say, I am meek and lowly in heart; here, my Brethren, is our whole remedy, Learn of Me, that I am meek and lowly in heart. What does it profit a man if he do miracles, and is proud, is not meek and lowly in heart? Will he not be reckoned in the number of those who shall come at the last day, and say, Have we not prophesied in Your Name, and in Your Name have done many mighty works? But what shall they hear? I know you not, Depart from Me, all you that work iniquity.

8. What then does it profit us to learn? That I am meek, says He, and lowly in heart. He engrafts charity, and that most genuine charity, without confusion, without inflation, without elation, without deceit; this does He engraft, who says, Learn of Me, that I am meek and lowly in heart. How can one proud and puffed up have any genuine charity? He must needs be envious. And perhaps one who is envious, loves, and we are mistaken? God forbid that any one should be so mistaken, as to say that an envious man has charity. And so what says the Apostle? Charity envies not. Why does it not envy? It is not puffed up; he immediately annexed the cause for which he took away envying from charity. Because it is not puffed up, it envies not. It is true, he said first, Charity envies not; but as though you asked, Why does it not envy? he added, It is not puffed up. If then it envies because it is puffed up; if it be not puffed up, it envies not. If charity is not puffed up, and therefore envies not; then does He engraft charity who says, Learn of Me, that I am meek and lowly in heart.

9. Let any man have then what he will, let him boast himself of what he will. If I speak with the tongues of men and of Angels, but, have not charity, I have become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. What is more sublime than the gift of various tongues? It is brass, it is a tinkling cymbal, if you take charity away. Hear other gifts; If I should know all mysteries. What more excellent? What more magnificent? Hear yet another; if I should have all prophecy, and all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not charity, I am nothing. He comes to still greater things, Brethren. What else has he said? If I should distribute all my goods to the poor. What more perfect thing can be done? When indeed the Lord commanded the rich man this for perfection's sake, saying, If you will be perfect, go, sell all that you have, and give to the poor. Was he then at once perfect, because he sold all his goods and gave them to the poor? No; and therefore He added, And come, follow Me. Sell all, says He, give to the poor, and come, follow Me. Why should I follow You? Now that I have sold all, and distributed to the poor, am I not perfect? What need is there that I should follow You? Follow Me, that you may learn that I am meek and lowly in heart. For what? Can any man sell all he has, and give to the poor, who is not yet meek, not yet lowly in heart? Assuredly he can. For if I should distribute all my goods to the poor. And hear still further. For some, who had left all they had and had already followed the Lord, but not yet followed Him perfectly (for to follow Him perfectly is to imitate Him), could not bear the trial of suffering. Peter, Brethren, was already one of those who had left all and followed the Lord. For as that rich man went away in sadness, when the disciples bring troubled, asked how then any one could be perfect, and the Lord consoled them, they said to the Lord, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed You; what shall we have therefore? And the Lord told them what He would give them here, what He would reserve for them hereafter. Now Peter was already of the number of those who had so done. But when it came to the crisis of suffering, at the voice of a maid-servant he denied Him thrice with whom he had promised that he was ready to die.

10. Take good heed then, Beloved: Go, says He, sell all that you have, give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven, and come, follow Me. Peter is perfect, now that the Lord sits in heaven at the right Hand of the Father, then did he attain perfection and maturity. For when he followed the Lord to His Passion, he was not perfect; but when there began to be no one on earth for him to follow, then was he perfected. But you truly have always One before you to follow; the Lord has set up an example on earth, when He left the Gospel with you, in the Gospel He is with you. For He did not speak falsely when He said, Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Therefore follow the Lord. What is, Follow the Lord? Imitate the Lord. What is, Imitate the Lord? Learn of Me, that I am meek and lowly in heart. Because if I should distribute all my goods to the poor, and give up my body to be burned, but not have charity, it profits me nothing. To this charity then I exhort your Charity; now I should not exhort to charity, but with some charity. I exhort then that what is commenced may be filled up; and pray that what is begun may be perfected. And I beg that you would offer this prayer for me, that what I advise may be perfected in me also. For we are all now imperfect, and there shall we be perfected, where all things are perfect. The Apostle Paul says, Brethren, I do not reckon myself to have apprehended. He says, Not that I have already attained, either am already perfect. And shall any man dare to vaunt himself on perfection? Yea rather let us acknowledge our imperfection, that we may attain perfection.

Sermon 93 on the New Testament

[CXLIII. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, John 16:7 , I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away, etc.

1. The medicine for all the wounds of the soul, and the one propitiation for the offenses of men, is to believe in Christ; nor can any one be cleansed at all, whether from original sin which he derived from Adam, in whom all men have sinned, and become by nature children of wrath; or from the sins which they have themselves added, by not resisting the concupiscence of the flesh, but by following and serving it in unclean and injurious deeds: unless by faith they are united and compacted into His Body, who was conceived without any enticement of the flesh and deadly pleasure, and whom His Mother nourished in her womb without sin, and Who did no sin, neither was deceit found in His Mouth. They verily who believe in Him, become the children of God; because they are born of God by the grace of adoption, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ our Lord. Wherefore, dearly Beloved, it is with good reason that the same Lord and our Saviour mentions this one sin only, of which the Holy Ghost convinces the world, that it believes not on Him. I tell you the truth, He says, It is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. And when He shall come, He will convince the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin, because they believe not on Me. Of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you shall see Me no more. Of judgment, because the prince of this world is already judged.

2. Of this one only sin then He would have the world to be convinced, that they believe not on Him; to wit, because by believing on Him all sins are loosed, He would have this one imputed by which the rest are bound. And because by believing they are born of God, and become children of God; For, says he, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, to them that believe in Him. Whoever then believes in the Son of God, in so far as he adheres to Him, and becomes himself also by adoption a son and heir of God, and a joint-heir with Christ, in so far he sins not. Whence John says, Whosoever is born of God sins not. And therefore the sin of which the world is convinced is this, that they believe not on Him. This is the sin of which He also says, If I had not come, they had not had sin. For what! Had they not innumerable other sins? But by His coming this one sin was added to them that believed not, by which the rest should be retained. Whereas in them that believe, because this one was wanting, it was brought to pass that all should be remitted to them that believe. Nor is it with any other view that the Apostle Paul says, All have sinned, and have need of the glory of God; that whosoever believes in Him, should not be confounded; as the Psalm also says Come to Him, and be enlightened, and your faces shall not be confounded. Whoever then glories in himself shall be confounded; for he shall not be found without sins. Accordingly he only shall not be confounded who glories in the Lord. For all have sinned, and have need of the glory of God. And so when he was speaking of the infidelity of the Jews, he did not say, For if some of them have sinned, shall their sin make the faith of God of none effect? For how should he say, If some of them have sinned; when he said himself, For all have sinned? But he said, If some of them believed not, shall their unbelief make the faith of God of none effect? That he might point out more expressly this sin, by which alone the door is closed against the rest that they by the grace of God should not be remitted. Of which one sin by the coming of the Holy Ghost, that is by the gift of His grace, which is granted to the faithful, the world is convinced, in the Lord's words, Of sin, because they believed not on Me.

3. Now there would be no great merit and glorious blessedness in believing, if the Lord had always appeared in His Risen Body to the eyes of men. The Holy Ghost then has brought this great gift to them that should believe, that Him whom they should not see with the eyes of flesh, they might with a mind sobered from carnal desires, and inebriated with spiritual longings, sigh after. Whence it was that when that disciple who had said that he would not believe, unless he touched with the hands His Scars, after he had handled the Lord's Body, cried out as though awaking from sleep, My Lord and my God; the Lord said to him, Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. This blessedness has the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, brought to us, that the form of a servant which He took from the Virgin's womb, being removed from the eyes of flesh, the purified eye of the mind might be directed to This Form of God, in which He continued equal with the Father, even when He vouchsafed to appear in the Flesh; so as that with the Same Spirit filled the Apostle might say, Though we have known Christ after the flesh; yet now we know Him so no longer. Because even the Flesh of Christ he knew not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, who, not by touching in curiosity, but in believing assured, acknowledges the power of His Resurrection; not saying in his heart, Who has ascended into heaven? That is, to bring Christ down; or, Who has descended into the deep? That is, to bring back Christ from the dead. But, says he, the word is near you, in your mouth, that Jesus is the Lord; and if you shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. These, Brethren, are the words of the Apostle, pouring them forth with the holy inebriation of the Holy Ghost Himself.

4. Forasmuch then as we could in no way have had this blessedness by which we see not and yet believe, unless we received it of the Holy Ghost; it is with good reason said, It is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you. By His Divinity indeed He is with us always; but unless He had in Body gone away from us, we had always seen His Body after the flesh. and never believed after a spiritual sort; by the which belief justified and blessed we might attain with cleansed hearts to contemplate the Very Word, God with God, by whom all things were made, and who was made Flesh, that He might dwell among us. And if not with the contact of the hand, but with the heart man believes unto righteousness; with good reason is the world, which will not believe save what it sees, convinced of our righteousness. Now that we might have that righteousness of faith of which the unbelieving world should be convinced, therefore said the Lord, Of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you shall see Me no more. As if He had said, This shall be your righteousness, that you believe in Me, the Mediator, of whom you shall be most fully assured that He is risen again and gone to the Father, though you see Him not after the Flesh; that by Him reconciled, you may be able to see God after the Spirit. Whence He says to the woman who represents the Church, when she fell at His Feet after His Resurrection, Touch Me not, for I am not yet ascended to the Father. Which expression is understood mystically, thus. Believe not in Me after a carnal manner by means of bodily contact; but you shall believe after a spiritual manner; that is, with a spiritual faith shall touch Me, when I shall have ascended to the Father. For, blessed are they who do not see, and believe. And this is the righteousness of faith, of which the world, which has it not, is convinced of us who are not without it; for the just lives by faith. Whether it be then that as rising again in Him, and in Him coming to the Father, we are invisibly and in justification perfected; or that as not seeing and yet believing we live by faith, for that the just lives by faith. with these meanings said He, Of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you shall see Me no more.

5. Nor let the world excuse itself by this, that it is hindered by the devil from believing on Christ. For to believers the prince of the world is cast out, that he work no more in the hearts of men whom Christ has begun to possess by faith; as he works in the children of unbelief; whom he is constantly stirring up to tempt and disturb the righteous. For because he is cast out, who once had dominion interiorly he wages war exteriorly. Although then by means of his persecutions, the Lord does direct the meek in judgment; nevertheless in this very fact of his being cast out, is he judged already. And of this, judgment is the world convinced; for in vain does he who will not believe in Christ complain of the devil whom, judged, that is, cast out, and for the exercising of us allowed to attack us from without, not only men, but even women, and boys, and girls, Martyrs have overcome. Now in whom have they overcome, but in Him on whom they have believed, and whom seeing not, they loved, and by whose dominion in their hearts they have got rid of a most oppressive lord. And all this by grace, by the gift, that is, of the Holy Ghost. Rightly then does the Same Spirit convince the world, both of sin, because it believes not on Christ; and of righteousness, because they who have had the will have believed, though Him on whom they believed they saw not; and by His Resurrection have hoped that themselves also should be in the resurrection perfected; and of judgment, because if they had had the will to believe, they could be hindered by none, for that the prince of this world has been judged already.

Sermon 94 on the New Testament

[CXLIV. Ben.]

On the same words of the Gospel, John 16:8 , He will convict the world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement.

1. When our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was speaking at length of the coming of the Holy Ghost, He said among the rest, He shall convince the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. Nor when He had said this, did He pass on to another subject; but vouchsafed to convey a somewhat more explicit notice of this same truth. Of sin, said He, because they believed not on Me. Of righteousness, because I go to the Father. Of judgment, because the prince of this world has been judged already. There arises therefore within us a desire of understanding, why as if it were men's only sin, not to believe in Christ, He said it of this alone, that the Holy Ghost should convince the world; but if it is plain that besides this unbelief there are manifold other sins of men, why of this alone should the Holy Ghost convince the world? Is it because all sins are by unbelief retained, by faith remitted; that therefore God imputes this one above all the rest, by which it comes to pass that the rest are not loosed, so long as proud man believes not in an Humbled God? For so it is written; God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble. Now this grace of God is a gift of God. But the greatest gift is the Holy Ghost Himself; and therefore is it called grace. For forasmuch as all had sinned, and needed the glory of God; because by one man sin entered into the world, and death by his sin in whom all have sinned; therefore is it grace because given gratuitously. And therefore is it given gratuitously, because it is not rendered as a reward after a strict scrutiny of deserts, but given as a gift after the pardon of sins.

2. Therefore of sin are unbelievers, that is, the lovers of the world, convinced; for they are signified by the name of the world. For when it is said, He will convince the world of sin; it is of none other sin than that they have not believed on Christ. For if this sin exist not, no sins will remain, because when the just man lives by faith, all are loosed. Now the difference is great as to whether one believe that Jesus is Christ, or whether he believe in Christ. For that Jesus is Christ even the devils believed, and yet the devils believed not on Christ. For he believes in Christ, who both hopes in Christ and loves Christ. For if he have faith without hope and love, he believes that Christ is, but he does not believe in Christ. Whoever then believes in Christ, by believing on Christ, Christ comes unto him, and in a manner unites Himself to him, and he is made a member in His Body. Which cannot be, but by the accession of hope and love.

3. What mean again His words, Of righteousness, because I go to the Father? And first must we enquire, if the world is convinced of sin, why it is also of righteousness? For who can rightly be convinced of righteousness? Is it indeed that the world is convinced of its own sin, but of Christ's righteousness? I do not see what else can be understood; since He says, Of sin, because they believed not on Me. Of righteousness, because I go to the Father. They believed not, He goes to the Father. Their sin therefore, and His righteousness. But why would He name righteousness in this only, that He goes to the Father? Is it not righteousness also that He came hither from the Father? Or is that rather mercy, that He came from the Father to us, and righteousness, that He goes to the Father?

4. So, Brethren, I think it expedient, that in so profound a depth of Scripture, in words, wherein perhaps there lies some hidden truth which may in due season be laid open, we should as it were together enquire faithfully, that we may attain to find healthfully. Why then does He call this righteousness, in that He goes to the Father, and not also in that He came from the Father? Is it that in that it is mercy that He came, therefore it is righteousness that He goes? That so in our own case too we may learn that righteousness cannot be fulfilled in us, if we are slow to give a place first to mercy, not seeking our own things, but the things of others also. Which advice when the Apostle had given, he immediately joined to it the example of our Lord Himself; Doing nothing, says he, through strife or vain glory; but in lowliness of mind, each esteeming the other better than themselves. Not looking every man on his own things, but also on the things of others. Then he added immediately, Let this mind be in each of you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the Form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man; He humbled Himself, having become obedient even unto death, yea the death of the cross. This is the mercy whereby He came from the Father. What then is the righteousness whereby He goes to the Father? He goes on and says; Wherefore God also has exalted Him, and given Him a Name which is above every name; that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the Glory of God the Father. This is the righteousness whereby He goes to the Father.

5. But if He Alone goes to the Father, what does it profit us? Why is the world convinced by the Holy Ghost of this righteousness? And yet if He did not Alone go to the Father, He would not say in another place, No man has ascended up to heaven, but He That descended from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven. But the Apostle Paul also says, For our conversation is in heaven. And why is this? Because he also says, If you be risen with Christ, seek the things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Mind the things which are above, not those which are upon the earth. For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. How then is He Alone? Is He therefore Alone because Christ with all His members is One, as the Head with His Body? Now what is His Body, but the Church? As the same teacher says, Now you are the Body of Christ, and members in particular. Forasmuch then as we have fallen, and He descended for our sakes, what is, No man has ascended, but He That descended; but that no man has ascended, except as made one with Him, and as a member fastened into His Body who descended? And thus He says to His disciples, Without Me ye can do nothing. For in one way is He One with the Father, and in another one with us. He is One with the Father, in that the Substance of the Father and the Son is One; He is One with the Father, in that, Being in the Form of God, He thought it not robbery to be equal with God. But He was made One with us, in that He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant; He was made one with us, according to the seed of Abraham, in whom all nations shall be blessed. Which place when the Apostle had brought forward, he said, He says not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to your Seed, which is Christ. And for that we too belong to that which is Christ, by our incorporation together, and coherence to That Head, It is One Christ. And also for that he says to us too, Therefore are you Abraham's seed, heirs according to the promise. For if the seed of Abraham be One, and That One Seed of Abraham can only be understood of Christ; but this seed of Abraham we also are; therefore This Whole, that is, the Head and the Body, is One Christ.

6. And therefore we ought not to deem ourselves separated from that righteousness, which the Lord Himself makes mention of, saying, Of righteousness, because I go to the Father. For we too have risen with Christ, and we are with Christ our Head, now for a while by faith and hope; but our hope will be completed in the last resurrection of the dead. But when our hope shall be completed, then shall our justification be completed also. And the Lord who was to complete it showed us in His Own Flesh (that is, in our Head), Wherein He rose again and ascended to the Father, what we ought to hope for. For that thus it is written, He was delivered for our sins, and rose again for our justification. The world then is convinced of sin in those who believe not on Christ; and of righteousness, in those who rise again in the members of Christ. Whence it is said, That we may be the righteousness of God in him. For if not in Him, in no way righteousness. But if in Him, He goes with us Whole to the Father, and this perfect righteousness will be fulfilled in us. And therefore of judgment too is the world convinced, because the prince of this world has been judged already; that is, the devil, the prince of the unrighteous, who in heart inhabit only in this world which they love, and therefore are called the world; as our conversation is in heaven, if we have risen again with Christ. Therefore as Christ together with us, that is His Body, is One; so the devil with all the ungodly whose head he is, with as it were his own body, is one. Wherefore as we are not separated from the righteousness, of which the Lord said, Because I go to the Father; so the ungodly are not separated from that judgment, of which He said, Because the prince of this world has been judged already.

Sermon 95 on the New Testament

[CXLV. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, John 16:24 , Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name; and on the words of Luke 10:17 , Lord, even the demons are subject unto us in your name.

1. When the Holy Gospel was being read, we heard what in truth ought at once to put every earnest soul in motion to seek, not to faint. For whoever is not moved, is not changed. But there is a dangerous movement, of which it is written, Suffer not my feet to be moved. But there is another movement of him who seeks, knocks, asks. What then has been read we have all heard; but I suppose we have not all understood. It makes mention of that which together with me ye should seek, with me ask, for the receiving of which you should with me knock. For as I hope the grace of the Lord will be with us, that whereas I wish to minister to you, I too may be thought worthy to receive. What is it, I pray you, that we have just heard that the Lord said to His disciples? Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My Name. Is He not speaking to those disciples, who, after He had sent them, having given them power to preach the Gospel, and to do mighty works, returned with joy, and said to Him, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through Your Name? You recognise, you recollect this which I have quoted from the Gospel, which in every passage and every sentence speaks truth, nowhere false, nowhere deceives. How then is it true, Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My Name? And, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through Your name? Of a surety this puts the mind in motion to ascertain the secret of this difficulty. Therefore ask we, seek, knock. Be there in us faithful godliness, not a restlessness of the flesh, but a submission of the mind, that He who sees us knocking may open unto us.

2. What the Lord then may give to be ministered unto you, do ye with earnest attention, that is, with hunger, receive; and when I shall have spoken it, you will doubtless with sound taste approve what is placed before you out of the Lord's store. The Lord Jesus knew whereby the soul of man, that is, the rational mind, made after the image of God, could be satisfied: only, that is, by Himself. This He knew, and knew that it was as yet without that fullness. He knew that He was manifest, and He knew that He was hidden. He knew what in Him was exhibited, what concealed. He knew all this. How great, says the Psalm, is the multitude of Your sweetness, O Lord, which You have hidden to them that fear You; which You have wrought for them that hope in You! Your sweetness both great and manifold have You hidden to them that fear You. If you hide it to them that fear You, to whom dost Thou open it? You have wrought it for them that hope in You. A twofold question has arisen, but either is solved by the other. If any one inquires after the other, what is this, You have hidden it to them that fear You; wrought it for them that hope in You? Are they that fear, and they that hope, different? Do not the very same who fear God, hope in God? Who hopes on Him who does not fear Him? Who in a godly sort fears Him, and has not hope in Him? Let this then first be solved. Somewhat would I say concerning those who hope and those who fear.

3. The Law has fear, Grace hope. But what difference is there between the Law and Grace, since the Giver both of the Law and Grace is One? The Law alarms him who relies on himself, Grace assists him who trusts in God. The Law, I say, alarms; do not make light of this because it is brief; weigh it well, and it is considerable. Look well at what I have said, take what we minister, prove wherefrom we take it. The Law alarms him who relies on himself, Grace assists him who trusts in God. What says the Law? Many things: and who can enumerate them? I bring forward one small and short precept from it which the Apostle has brought forward, a very small one; let us see who is sufficient for it. You shall not lust. What is this, Brethren? We have heard the Law; if there be no grace, you have heard your punishment. Why do you boast to me whosoever you are that hearing this dost rely upon yourself, why do you boast to me of innocence? Why do you flatter yourself thereupon? You can say, I have not plundered the goods of others; I hear, I believe, perhaps I even see it, you do not plunder the goods of others. You have heard, You shall not lust. I do not go in to another man's wife; this again I hear, believe, see. You have heard, You shall not lust. Why do you inspect yourself all round without, and dost not inspect within? Look in, and you will see another law in your members. Look in, why do you pass over yourself? Descend into your own self. You will see another law in your members resisting the law of your mind, and bringing you into captivity in the law of sin which is in your members. With good reason then is the sweetness of God hidden to you. The law placed in your members, resisting the law of your mind, brings you into captivity. Of that sweetness which to you is hidden, the holy Angels drink; you can not drink and taste that sweetness, captive as you are. You had not known concupiscence, unless the Law had said, You shall not lust. You heard, feared, tried to fight, could not overcome. For sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought death. Surely ye recognise them, they are the Apostle's words. Sin taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. Why did you vaunt yourself in your pride? Lo, with your own arms has the enemy conquered you. Thou verily, looked for a commandment as a defense: and, lo, by the commandment the enemy has found an occasion of entering in. For sin taking occasion by the commandment, he says, deceived me, and by it slew me. What means what I said, With your own arms has the enemy conquered you? Hear the same Apostle going on, and saying; Wherefore the Law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Make answer now to the revilers of the Law: make answer on the Apostle's authority, The commandment is holy, the Law holy, the commandment just and good. Was then that which is good, made death unto me? God forbid! But sin that it might appear sin, by that which is good wrought death in me. Why is this but because on receiving the commandment you feared, not love? You feared punishment, you did not love righteousness. Whoever fears punishment, wishes, if it were possible, to do what pleases him, and not to have what he fears. God forbids adultery, you have coveted another's wife, you do not go in unto her, you do not do so, opportunity is given you, you have time, a favourable place is open, witnesses are absent, yet you do not do it, wherefore? Because you fear the punishment. But no one will know it. Will not God know it? So it is clear, because God knows what you are about to do, you do it not; but here you fear the threatenings of God, not lovest His commandments. Why do you not do it? Because if you do, you will be cast into hell fire. It is the fire you fear. O if you loved chastity, you would not do it, even though you might be altogether unpunished. If God were to say to you, Lo, do it, I will not condemn you, I will not condemn you to hell fire, but I will withhold My Face from you. If you did it not because of this threat, it would be from the love of God that you did not do it, not from the fear of judgment. But you would do it, perhaps I mean you would do so; for it is not my place to judge. If you do it not on this principle because you abhor the contamination of adultery, because you love His precepts, that you may obtain His promises, and not because you fear His condemnation, it is the grace which makes saints that aids you; it is all of grace, ascribe it not to your own self, attribute it not to your own strength. Thou actest from delight in it, well; you act in charity, well; I assent, I agree. Charity works by you, when you act with your will. At once do you taste sweetness, if you hope in the Lord.

4. But whence have you this charity, if yet you have it? For I am afraid lest even yet it is through fear you do it not, and lest you seem great in your own eyes. Now if it is through charity that you do it not, you are truly great. Have you charity? I have, you say. Whence? From myself. Far are you from sweetness, if you have it from your own self. You will love your own self, because you will love that from which you have it. But I will convict you that you have it not. For in that you think that you have so great a thing from your own self, by that very fact I do not believe you have it. For if you had, you would know from whence you had it. Have you charity from yourself, as if it were some light, some little thing? If you should speak with the tongues of men and Angels, but have not charity, you would be a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. If you should know all mysteries, and have all knowledge, and all prophecy, and all faith so that you could remove mountains, but not have charity, these things could not profit you. If you should distribute all your goods to the poor, and deliver up your body to be burned, but not have charity, you would be nothing. How great is this charity, which if it be wanting, all things profit nothing! Compare it not to your faith, not to your knowledge, not to your gift of tongues, to lesser things, to the eye of your body, the hand, the foot, the belly, to any one lowest member compare charity, are these least things to be in any way compared to charity? So then the eye and nose you have from God, and have you charity from your own self? If you have given yourself charity which surpasses all things, you have made God of light account with you. What more can God give you? Whatever He may have given, is less. Charity which you have given yourself, surpasses all things. But if you have it, you have not given it to yourself. For what have you which you have not received? Who gave to me, who gave to you? God. Acknowledge Him in His gifts, that you feel not His condemnation. By believing the Scriptures, God has given you charity, a great boon, charity, which surpasses all things. God gave it you, because the charity of God has been shed abroad in our hearts; by your own self, perhaps? God forbid; by the Holy Ghost, who has been given us.

5. Return with me to that captive, return with me to my proposition. The Law alarms him that relies on himself, grace assists him who trusts in God. For look at that captive. He sees another law in his members resisting the law of his mind, and leading him captive in the law of sin, which is in his members. Lo, he is bound, lo, he is dragged along, lo, he is led captive, lo, he is subjected. What has that profited him, You shall not lust? He has heard, You shall not lust; that he might know his enemy, not that he might overcome him. For he had not known concupiscence, that is, his enemy, unless the Law had said, You shall not lust. Now you have seen the enemy, fight, deliver yourself, make good your liberty, let the suggestions of pleasure be kept down, unlawful delight be utterly destroyed. Arm yourself, you have the Law, march on, conquer if you can. For what good is it that through the little portion of God's grace you have already, you delight in the Law of God after the inward man? But you see another law in your members resisting the law of your mind; not resisting yet powerless for anything, but leading you captive in the law of sin. Behold, whence to you who fearest that plentifulness of sweetness is hidden! to him that fears it is hidden, how is it wrought out for him that trusts? Cry out under your enemy, for that you have an assailant, you have an Helper too, who looks upon you as you fight, who helps you in difficulty; but only if He find you trusting; for the proud He hates. What then will you cry under this enemy? Wretched man that I am! You see it already, for you have cried out. Be this your cry, when haply you are distressed under the enemy, say ye, in your inmost heart say, in sound faith say, Wretched man that I am! Wretched that I am! Therefore wretched, because I. Wretched man that I am, both because I, and because man. For he is disquieted in vain. For though man walks in the Image; yet, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Will you yourself? Where is your strength, where is your confidence? Of a surety you both cry out, and are silent; silent, that is, from extolling yourself, not from calling upon God. Be silent, and cry out. For God Himself too is both silent, and cries aloud; He is silent from judgment, He is not silent from precept; so be too silent from elation, not from invocation; lest God say to you, I have been silent, shall I be silent always? Cry out therefore, O wretched man that I am! Acknowledge yourself conquered, put your own strength to shame, and say, Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? What did I say above? The Law alarms him that relies upon himself. Behold, man relied upon himself, he attempted to fight, he could not get the better, he was conquered, prostrated, subjugated, led captive. He learned to rely upon God, and it remains that him whom the Law alarmed while he relied upon himself, grace should assist now that he trusts in God. In this confidence he says, Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God by Jesus Christ our Lord. Now see the sweetness, taste it, relish it; hear the Psalm, Taste and see that the Lord is sweet. He has become sweet to you, for that He has delivered you. You were bitter to your own self, when you relied upon yourself. Drink sweetness, receive the earnest of so great abundance.

6. The disciples then of the Lord Jesus Christ while yet under the Law had to be cleansed still, to be nourished still, to be corrected still, to be directed still. For they still had concupiscence; whereas the Law says, You shall not lust. Without offense to those holy rams, the leaders of the flock, without offense to them I would say it, for I say the truth: the Gospel relates, that they contended which of them should be the greatest, and while the Lord was yet on earth, they were agitated by a dissension about pre-eminence. Whence was this, but from the old leaven? Whence, but from the law in the members, resisting the law of the mind? They sought for eminence; yea, they desired it; they thought which should be the greatest; therefore is their pride put to shame by a little child. Jesus calls unto him the age of humility to tame the swelling desire. With good reason then when they returned too, and said, Lord, behold even the devils are subject unto us through Your Name. (It was for a nothing that they rejoiced; of what importance was it compared to that which God promised?) The Lord, the Good Master, quieting fear, and building up a firm support, said to them, In this rejoice not that the devils are subject unto you. Why so? Because many will come in My Name, saying, Behold, in Your Name we have cast out devils; and I will say to them, I know you not. In this rejoice not, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven. You cannot yet be there, yet notwithstanding you are already written there. Therefore rejoice. So that place again, Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My Name. For what you have asked, in comparison with that which I am willing to give, is nothing. For what have ye asked in My Name? That the devils should be subject unto you? In this rejoice not, that is, what you have asked is nothing; for if it were anything, He would bid them rejoice. So then it was not absolutely nothing, but that it was little in comparison of that greatness of God's rewards. For the Apostle Paul was not really not anything; and yet in comparison of God, Neither is he that plants anything, neither he that waters. And so I say to you, and I say to myself, both to myself and you I say, when we ask in Christ's Name for these temporal things. For you have asked undoubtedly. For who does not ask? One asks for health, if he is sick; another asks for deliverance, if he is in prison; another asks for the port, if he is tossed about at sea; another asks for victory, if he is in conflict with an enemy; and in the Name of Christ he asks all, and what he asks is nothing. What then must be asked for? Ask in My Name. And He said not what, but by the very words we understand what we ought to ask. Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full. Ask, and you shall receive, in My Name. But what? Not nothing; but what? That your joy may be full; that is, ask what may suffice you. For when you ask for temporal things, you ask for nothing. Whoever shall drink of this water, shall thirst again. He lets down the watering pot of desire into the well, he takes up whereof to drink, only that he may thirst again. Ask, that your joy may be full; that is, that you may be satisfied, not feel delight only for a time. Ask what may suffice you; speak Philip's language, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us. The Lord says to you, Have I been so long time with you, and have ye not known Me? Philip, he that sees Me, sees the Father also. Render then thanks to Christ, made weak for you that are weak, and make ready your desires for Christ's Divinity, to be satisfied therewith. Turn we to the Lord, etc.

Sermon 96 on the New Testament

[CXLVI. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, John 21:16 , Simon, son of John, do you love me? etc.

1. You have observed, beloved, that in today's lesson it was said by the Lord to Peter in a question, Do you love Me? To whom he answered, You know, Lord, that I love you. This was done a second, and a third time; and at each several reply, the Lord said, Feed My lambs. To Peter did Christ commend His lambs to be fed, who fed even Peter himself. For what could Peter do for the Lord, especially now that He had an Immortal Body, and was about to ascend into heaven? As though He had said to him, 'Do you love Me?' Herein show that you love Me, 'Feed my sheep.' So then, Brethren, do ye with obedience hear that you are Christ's sheep; seeing that we on our part with fear hear, Feed My sheep? If we feed with fear, and fear for the sheep; these sheep how ought they to fear for themselves? Let then carefulness be our portion, obedience yours; pastoral watchfulness our portion, the humility of the flock yours. Although we too who seem to speak to you from a higher place, are with fear beneath your feet; forasmuch as we know how perilous an account must be rendered of this as it were exalted seat. Wherefore, dearly beloved, Catholic plants, Members of Christ, think What a Head you have! Children of God, think What a Father you have found. Christians, think What an Inheritance is promised you. Not such as on earth cannot be possessed by children, save when their parents are dead. For no one on earth possesses a father's inheritance, save when he is dead. But we while our Father lives shall possess what He shall give; for that our Father cannot die. I add more, I say more, and say the truth; our Father will Himself be our Inheritance.

2. Live consistently, especially ye candidates of Christ, recently baptized, just regenerated, as I have admonished you before, so say I now, and give expression to my solicitude; for the present lesson of the Gospel has forced upon me a greater fear: take heed to yourselves, do not imitate evil Christians. Say not I will do this, for many of the faithful do it. This is not to procure a defense for the soul; but to look out for companions unto hell. Grow ye in this floor of the Lord; herein you will find good men to please you, if you yourselves are good. For are you our private property? Heretics and schismatics have made their own private property out of what they have stolen from the Lord, and would feed, not Christ's flocks, but their own against Christ. It is true indeed, they place His title on these their spoils, that their robberies may be as it were maintained by the title of His Power. What does Christ when such as these are converted, who have received the title of His Baptism out of the Church? He casts out the spoiler, He does not efface the title, and takes possession of the house; because He has found His title there. What need is there that He should change His Own Name? Do they take heed to what the Lord said to Peter, Feed My lambs, feed My sheep? Did He say to him, Feed your lambs; or, Feed your sheep? But for them who are shut out, what said He in the Song of Songs, unto the Church? The Spouse speaking to the Bride, says, If you know not yourself, O you fair one among women, go forth. As though He said, I do not cast you out, 'go forth, if you know not yourself, O you fair one among women,' if you know not yourself in the mirror of divine Scripture, if you give not heed, O you fair woman, to the mirror which with no false lustre deceives you; if you know not that of you it is said, 'Your glory shall be above all earth;' that of you it is said, 'I will give you nations for your inheritance, and the limits of the earth for your possession.' and other innumerable testimonies which set forth the Catholic Church. If then you know not these, you have no part in Me, you can not make yourself My heir. 'Go forth then in the footsteps of the flocks' not in the fellowship of the flock; and feed your goats, not as it was said to Peter, 'My sheep.' To Peter it was said, My sheep; to schismatics it is said, your goats. In the one place sheep, in the other goats; in the one place Mine, in the other yours. Recollect the right Hand and the left of our Judge; recollect where the goats shall stand, and where the sheep; and it will be plain to you where is the right hand, where the left, the white and the black, the lightsome, and the darksome, the fair and the deformed, that which is about to receive the kingdom, and that which is to find everlasting punishment.

Sermon 97 on the New Testament

[CXLVII. Ben.]

On the same words of the Gospel of John 21:15 , Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? etc.

1. You remember that the Apostle Peter, the first of all the Apostles, was disturbed at the Lord's Passion. Of his own self disturbed, but by Christ renewed. For he was first a bold presumer, and became afterwards a timid denier. He had promised that he would die for the Lord, when the Lord was first to die for him. When he said then, I will be with You even unto death, and I will lay down my life for You; the Lord answered him, Will you lay down your life for Me? Verily I say unto you, Before the cock crow, you shall deny Me thrice. They came to the hour; and because that Christ was God, and Peter a man, the Scripture was fulfilled, I said in my panic, Every man is a liar. And the Apostle says, For God is true, and every man a liar. Christ true, Peter a liar.

2. But what now? The Lord asks him as you heard when the Gospel was being read, and says to him, Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these? He answered and said, Yea Lord You know that I love You. And again the Lord asked this question, and a third time He asked it. And when he asserted in reply his love, He commended to him the flock. For each several time the Lord Jesus said to Peter, as he said, I love you; Feed My lambs, feed My little sheep. In this one Peter was figured the unity of all pastors, of good pastors, that is, who know that they feed Christ's sheep for Christ, not for themselves. Was Peter at this time a liar, or did he answer untruly that he loved the Lord? He made this answer truly; for he made answer of that which he saw in his own heart. Whereas when he said, I will lay down my life for You, he would presume on future strength. Now every man knows it may be what sort of man he is at the time when he is speaking; what he shall be on the morrow, who knows? So then Peter turned back his eyes to his own heart, when he was asked by the Lord, and in confidence made answer of what he saw there: 'Yea, Lord, You know that I love You.' What I tell You, You know; what I see here in my heart, You see also. Nevertheless, he did not venture to say what the Lord had asked. For the Lord had not simply said, Lovest Thou me? but had added, Do you love Me more than these? that is, Do you love Me more than these here do? He was speaking of the other disciples; Peter could not say ought but, I love You; he did not venture to say, more than these. He would not be a liar a second time. It were enough for him to bear testimony to his own heart; it was no duty of his to be judge of the heart of others.

3. Peter then was true; or rather was Christ true in Peter? Now when the Lord Jesus Christ would, He abandoned Peter, and Peter was found a man; but when it so pleased the Lord Jesus Christ, He filled Peter, and Peter was found true. The Rock (Petra) made Peter true, for the Rock was Christ. And what did He announce to him, when he answered a third time that he loved Christ, and a third time the Lord commended His little sheep to Peter? He announced to him beforehand his suffering. When you were young, says He, you girded yourself, and went where you would, but when you shall be old, you shall stretch forth your hands, and another shall gird you, and carry you whither you would not. The Evangelist has explained to us Christ's meaning. This spoke He, says he, signifying by what death he should glorify God; that is that he was crucified for Christ; for this is, You shall stretch forth your hands. Where now is that denier? Then after this the Lord Christ said, Follow Me. Not in the same sense as before, when he called the disciples. For then too He said, Follow Me; but then to instruction, now to a crown. Was he not afraid to be put to death when he denied Christ? He was afraid to suffer that which Christ suffered. But now he must be afraid no more. For he saw Him now Alive in the Flesh, whom he had seen hanging on the Tree. By His Resurrection Christ took away the fear of death; and forasmuch as He had taken away the fear of death, with good reason did He enquire of Peter's love. Fear had thrice denied, love thrice confessed. The threefoldness of denial, the forsaking of the Truth; the threefoldness of confession, the testimony of love.